SCOTLAND

Cobra: Libya

Thomas Docherty: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland on how many occasions he or the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland have attended meetings of COBR or its sub-group to discuss the Government's response to the situation in Libya.

David Mundell: Scotland Office Ministers and officials attend meetings in the Cabinet Office briefing rooms when the business of the meeting requires their attendance. As is the case with information relating to the proceedings of Cabinet and Cabinet Committees, details about COBRA meetings are generally not disclosed.

Departmental Official Cars

Thomas Docherty: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland on how many occasions he has been collected from a London airport and driven to  (a) the Houses of Parliament and  (b) Government offices in central London by (i) ministerial car, (ii) private hire vehicle paid for by Government and (iii) hackney cab reimbursed by Government since May 2010.

Michael Moore: I regularly travel from London airports by train and also make use of taxis and cars as required. We do not hold the detail of all individual journeys that you have requested. The Scotland Office no longer has a contract with the Government Car Service.

Hospitals: Glasgow

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many people normally resident in England live within  (a) an hour's and  (b) two hours' travel time of the Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow.

David Mundell: Health is a matter devolved to the Scottish Government and, therefore, this request should be directed to the NHS Information Services Division at Gyle Square, 1 South Gyle Crescent; Edinburgh EH12 9EB (telephone-0131 275 7777).

WOMEN AND EQUALITIES

Human Trafficking

Robert Flello: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what recent progress has been made on the strategy to combat trafficking of women and girls.

Lynne Featherstone: Combating human trafficking, including the sexual exploitation of women and girls, is a key priority for the Government. We are committed to tackling organised crime groups who profit from this human misery, and to protecting victims. We are due to publish our new strategy on human trafficking in the spring.

Crimes of Violence: Females

Ian Murray: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what recent progress she has made in combating violence against women and girls.

Lynne Featherstone: On International Women's Day, we published a comprehensive action plan outlining the work taking place across government to tackle violence against women and girl, a key priority for this Government. That is why we have already announced £28 million of funding for women's frontline services until 2015 and more than £10.5 million of funding for rape crisis services over the next three years.

Departmental Conditions of Employment

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what assessment she has made of the Government Equalities Office's adherence to each of the principles of good employment practice set out in the Cabinet Office publication Principles of Good Employment Practice.

Lynne Featherstone: The Government Equalities Office supports the principles of good employment practice for Government, Contracting Authorities and Suppliers set out by Cabinet Office.

Departmental Procurement

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities which procurement projects engaged upon by the Government Equalities Office had a designated senior responsible owner in the latest period for which figures are available; and on what date they were appointed in each such case.

Lynne Featherstone: The Government Equalities Office procures very little and does not have any need for such procurement projects.

TREASURY

Departmental Procurement

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what guidance his Department provides to other Government Departments on the minimum monetary value for a procurement project for which a senior responsible owner is required.

Danny Alexander: Treasury has published guidance on project governance for public sector projects. This guidance aims to help public sector bodies put in place and maintain the structures and forums that are needed for effective project governance, at all stages in the project lifecycle. This includes information on the role of senior responsible owners.
	The guidance is available at:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/ppp_projectgovernance guidance231107.pdf
	However, Treasury does not set a minimum monetary value for a procurement project for which a senior responsible owner is required. Cabinet Office, who lead on project management policy, has published guidance stating that every project must have a senior responsible owner appointed, with personal accountability and overall responsibility for the delivery of a successful outcome.

Equal Pay

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made of the difference in the pay gaps between men and women in the  (a) public and  (b) private sector.

Nick Hurd: I have been asked to reply.
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	 Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated March 2011:
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking what recent assessment has been made of the difference in the pay gap between men and women in the (a) public and (b) private sector. (44912)
	Levels of earnings are estimated from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), and are provided for all employees on adult rates of pay whose pay for the survey period was not affected by absence. The ASHE, carried out in April each year, is the most comprehensive source of earnings information in the United Kingdom.
	ONS's estimates of gender pay differences are based on median hourly earnings excluding overtime. I attach a table for 2010 showing the gender pay difference in the public and private sector, for median hourly earnings excluding overtime for all, full-time and part-time employees on adult rates of pay, whose pay for the survey period was not affected by absence.
	
		
			  Gender pay gap for employee jobs( 1)  in the public and private sector, 2010 
			   Percentage pay difference (women/men) 
			   Full-time  Part-time  All 
			 Public 10.0 20.6 19.2 
			 Private 19.8 -2.0 27.5 
			 (1) Employees on adult rates whose pay for the survey period was not affected by absence, as at April 2010.  Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Office for National Statistics.

EU Economic Policy

William Cash: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 1 March 2011,  Official Report, column 435W, on EU economic policy, 
	(1)  what his definition is of economic policy coordination; and if he will make a statement on the matter before the commencement of proceedings on consideration of the European Union Bill;
	(2)  for what reasons the answer did not refer to the  (a) Treaty and  (b) legal base under which Treaty to which the statement by the heads of state or government of the euro area and the EU institutions referred; and if he will make a statement on the matter before the commencement of proceedings on the consideration of the European Union Bill.

Mark Hoban: holding answer 8 March 2011
	The member states of the European Union engage in a broad range of economic policy co-ordination, examples of which are the Stability and Growth Pact, the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines, the Europe 2020 growth initiative, and the current legislative proposals on strengthening economic governance.
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 1 March 2011,  Official Report, column 435W, in which it made no reference to the European Union Treaties because no treaty legal basis is required for intergovernmental agreements. Member states are at liberty to enter into any such agreements they wish provided these do not breach any of the treaties and respect the fundamental principles of the Union.

Excise Duties: Fuels

Angela Eagle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much the Exchequer received in duty from fuel sales  (a) in the UK and  (b) in the Northern Isles, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the islands of the Clyde and the Isles of Scilly in the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Justine Greening: HM Revenue and Customs routinely publishes data on UK fuel duty revenues accruing to the Exchequer from 1999 to date at:
	www.uktradeinfo.com/index.cfm?task=bulloil
	Fuel duty is collected directly from fuel producers and therefore it is not possible to distinguish between different fuel consumers or geographic areas.

Financial Institutions

Simon Kirby: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many shares UK Financial Investments Ltd holds in each financial institution in which it has a stake; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: As set out in the UK Financial Investments (UKFI) Annual Report and Accounts 2009-10, UKFI currently holds 39.6 billion ordinary shares and 51.0 billion B-shares in the Royal Bank of Scotland. In Lloyds Banking Group UKFI currently holds a total of 27.6 billion ordinary shares.
	UKFI also manages the Government's 100% shareholding in Northern Rock plc, Northern Rock Asset Management and Bradford and Bingley.

Fuels: VAT

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the effect on the cost of motoring of the January 2011 increase in  (a) the standard rate of value added tax and  (b) fuel duty.

Justine Greening: On 1 January 2011 the main rate of fuel duty rose by 0.76 pence per litre and on 4 January the standard rate of VAT rose by 2.5%. Data on average retail road fuel prices are published every week by the Department of Energy and Climate Change at:
	www.decc.gov.uk/publications

Fuels: VAT

Grahame Morris: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the total revenue accruing to the Exchequer from motoring in each of the last 10 years; and what estimate he has made of the level of such revenue in each of the next five years.

Justine Greening: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 20 January 2011,  Official Report, column 935W, to the hon. Member for Glasgow North East (Mr Bain) and to the answer given on 17 January 2011,  Official Report, column 573W, to the hon. Member for East Londonderry (Mr Campbell).
	Historic outturns of current receipts are published in Budget documents.

Members: Correspondence

John Baron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay of 11 January 2011 regarding the hon. Member's constituents Mr Ehren and Mr Maguire.

Mark Hoban: I have replied to the hon. Member.

Members: Correspondence

Amber Rudd: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Hastings and Rye of 3 December 2010, reference AR/LS/688, to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, transferred to his Department on 7 January 2011.

Mark Hoban: My officials have asked the hon. Member's office for a copy as the Treasury has no record of having received the correspondence referred to.

Minerals: Developing Countries

Gordon Banks: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with industry on the prospect of strengthening the due diligence requirements for companies that are listed on the London Stock Exchange engaged in mineral extraction in developing countries.

David Gauke: Treasury Ministers hold regular conversations with representatives from the resource extraction industry as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Government, the Government do not disclose the outcomes of all such meetings and discussions.

Oil: Fuels

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with his international counterparts on the effect of global oil prices on the cost of fuel.

Justine Greening: At the recent G20 meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in Paris on 18-19 February the effects of potential excessive commodity price volatility were discussed and the G20 asked international organizations to report on the underlying drivers and the challenges posed by these trends for both consumers and producers and consider possible actions. Over the last few months the Chancellor has discussed a wide range of issues with his international counterparts, including energy prices.

Revenue and Customs: Credit Reference Agencies

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what use HM Revenue and Customs makes of credit reference agencies and data-matching services to identify fraud.

David Gauke: HMRC currently uses a variety of data from credit reference agencies and other third parties in order to support and enhance its risking and enforcement activities. This is used in two main ways:
	Data sets from third parties are used to enhance HMRC's existing risking tools. This allows HMRC to, for example, cross-reference its own data with third party data in order to help identify potential fraud.
	Individual HMRC investigators can use credit reference agency data on a case-by-case basis where they feel it will aid their investigation, and where that data is not already held by HMRC.
	Through a series of proof of concept trials, HMRC is exploring the benefit of further harnessing the expertise of credit reference agencies and data- matching services to help identify fraud.

Revenue and Customs: Manpower

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many investigators were employed by HM Revenue and Customs in each month of the last five years.

David Gauke: HM Revenue and Customs deploy compliance officers on a wide range of compliance activities including risk assessment, addressing inaccurate returns and verifying repayment claims, debt collection and criminal investigations across all heads of duty.
	The number of compliance officers deployed by HMRC over the last five years are:
	
		
			   FTE compliance officer 
			 2005-06 39,000 
			 2006-07 37,000 
			 2007-08 34,500 
			 2008-09 32,000 
			 2009-10 31,000 
		
	
	The requested month by month breakdown could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.

Taxation

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer many individuals have appealed against demands for repayment of underpaid tax as a result of recent miscalculations of tax liability made by HM Revenue and Customs in the PAYE system; and how many have been successful.

David Gauke: The information requested is not available. I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Dundee East (Stewart Hosie) on 19 October 2010,  Official Report, column 679W.

Taxation

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many appeals against tax liability calculations by HM Revenue and Customs were upheld in each month of the last five years.

David Gauke: The information requested is not available.

Taxation

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many individuals liable for underpaid tax as a result of recent miscalculations of tax liability made by HM Revenue and Customs in the PAYE system are over the pension age.

David Gauke: The information requested is only available at disproportionate cost.

Taxation

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many appeals against tax demands by HM Revenue and Customs were  (a) received and  (b) upheld under extra-statutory concession A19 in each month of the last five years.

David Gauke: The information requested is not available. However, between September 2010 and 6 March 2011 HMRC received 41,645 extra-statutory concession A19 applications of which 9,760 were successful and 31,885 were unsuccessful.

Taxation

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many taxpayers have had their details passed to debt collectors by HM Revenue and Customs in pursuit of underpaid tax as a result of recent miscalculations of tax liability made by HM Revenue and Customs in the PAYE system.

David Gauke: HMRC is aiming to recover the majority of underpayments by adjusting people's tax codes or, where that is not possible, by securing payment on a voluntary basis.
	No taxpayers have had their details passed to HMRC collectors or debt collection agencies for debt pursuit activity as a result of the recent end of year reconciliation difficulties.

Taxation

Steven Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the potential effects on  (a) economic activity,  (b) trade,  (c) tourism and  (d) growth in the UK of disparities between levels of aviation taxation in (i) EU and (ii) G20 countries; and if he will make a statement.

Justine Greening: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 22 November 2010,  Official Report, column 83W, to the Member for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich (Dr Poulter).

Third Sector

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what account he has taken of the Compact between the Government and Civil Society in policy development;
	(2)  what steps his Department has taken to support the big society initiative;
	(3)  whether  (a) he and  (b) Ministers in his Department are participating in volunteering activities as part of his Department's involvement in the big society initiative.

Justine Greening: The Big Society is an approach which is at the heart of Government's reforms across all policy areas. The Treasury, for example, supports the goals of the big society by ensuring that the tax system supports charitable giving. The Charity Tax Forum was established in 2010 to provide input to Treasury on the effectiveness of the charity tax system in supporting charitable giving. Furthermore, the Chancellor announced a £470 million package to support the civil society sector as part of the spending review and the Treasury is working closely with the Cabinet Office on the implementation of the Big Society Bank. To support public service reform, the Treasury has also eliminated top-down process targets in favour of front-line professional judgment by scrapping public service agreements.
	The Treasury fully supports and taken account of the Compact which facilitates better interaction between the sector and Government.
	Treasury Ministers carry out their ministerial duties in line with the Ministerial Code. Any volunteering activities undertaken by Treasury Ministers in a personal capacity are a matter for them. Relevant interests, which may include voluntary activities, are published by the Cabinet Office in the List of Ministers' Interests.

VAT: NHS

Bob Russell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will bring forward legislative proposals to amend section 41 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 to treat hospices on the same basis as NHS institutions for the purposes of value added tax.

David Gauke: All tax matters are kept under review. Announcements relating to tax are made at the Budget.

VAT: NHS

Chris Evans: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the cost to the Exchequer of bringing charitable providers of health care services within the provisions of section 41(7) of the Value Added Tax Act 1994.

David Gauke: No such estimate has been made. However, all tax matters are kept under review and a range of estimates are made as part of this process.

VAT: NHS

Chris Evans: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has plans to provide funding to voluntary sector providers of NHS services to offset value added tax paid on non-business supplies which they are unable to recover.

David Gauke: The Government keep all such matters under review. The general principle is that the funding or payment provided to bodies that carry out public services is inclusive of the costs of providing that service, including any VAT or other tax costs. Equally, the VAT which is refunded to the NHS and other bodies is taken into account as part of those bodies overall funding arrangements.

TRANSPORT

Trust Ports

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent discussions he has had on the future of trust ports.

Michael Penning: I have not held any recent discussions on the future of trust ports. During my visits to ports and when I have been invited to speak at maritime events, I have made clear that what I want for trust ports is to make sure that they all have the right commercial ambitions to grow.

High Speed Rail

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport by what date he expects international passenger rail services on the High Speed 1 route to stop at Stratford International station.

Theresa Villiers: This is a commercial decision for the current and future operators on the line. At present, neither Eurostar nor Deutsche Bahn have announced plans to stop at Stratford.

Renewable Energy Directive

Stephen Mosley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent representations he has received on the sustainability criteria in the renewable energy directive related to transport fuels; and if he will make a statement.

Philip Hammond: I have received recent representations on the renewable energy directive biofuel sustainability criteria from a number of NGOs including the RSPB, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. We share some of their concerns regarding the sustainability of some biofuels. For that reason we propose taking a cautious approach to implementing the renewable energy directive as set out in the consultation we have launched today on proposals to implement the transport elements of the renewable energy directive and the associated fuel quality directive.

Major Sporting Events

Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to ensure that transport infrastructure is sufficient to meet the anticipated volume of traffic for major sporting events in 2012 and beyond.

Theresa Villiers: The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) has statutory responsibility for transport planning for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It is working closely with delivery partners, including the Mayor and TfL, to deliver reliable transport during the games. Billions of pounds are being invested in transport capacity improvements for the games, which will leave a lasting legacy.

Bus and Tram Fares

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what information his Department holds on trends in bus and tram fares.

Norman Baker: The Department for Transport collects and publishes a Bus Fares Index which contributes to official UK inflation measures. The most recent figures show that bus fares in Britain increased by 4.3% on average in the year to January 2011. The retail prices index rose by 5.1% over the same period. There is no equivalent information on tram fares.

Bus Services

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received on planned changes to bus services receiving grants from his Department in the financial year 2011-12.

Norman Baker: In England, operators of local bus services receive Bus Service Operators Grant. I have received representations from hon. Members, members of the public and interest groups and have been able to confirm that we have decided to make no reductions in this grant in 2011-12.

A1: Repairs and Maintenance

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans to upgrade the A1 north of Newcastle he has considered.

Michael Penning: This Government have not considered any specific proposals to upgrade the A1 north of Newcastle. In October 2010, the Department for Transport set out its plans for investment on the strategic road network in the document Investment in Highways Transport Schemes.
	The Department has recently issued a consultation about the status of the A1 north of Newcastle, proposing to upgrade its status to a Route of Strategic National Importance. We are considering the views submitted and will publish our formal response in due course.

Bypasses: Isham

Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects construction of the Isham bypass to be completed.

Norman Baker: The ministerial statement on 4 February 2011,  Official Report, columns 60-62WS, named the local major transport schemes that have been selected for the Development Pool for possible funding. The A509 Isham Bypass scheme was not selected and therefore will not be considered for funding by this Department in this spending review period (up to 2014-15). It is now for the promoters to consider their options, including whether further investment in the development of this scheme would be in the best interests of local council taxpayers.

Cycling: Safety

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the effects on measures to ensure cyclists' safety of reductions in expenditure by his Department.

Norman Baker: The Government are keen to promote sustainable travel initiatives, including cycling.
	Funding streams to local authorities have been simplified and de-ring-fenced, to give local authorities more freedom and flexibility to develop and implement solutions to meet local needs.
	We have announced the local sustainable transport fund, a bid-based fund that will be for local authorities to build on their plans for sustainable travel measures through their local transport plans. The purpose of the fund is to enable the delivery by local transport authorities of sustainable transport solutions that support economic growth while reducing carbon.
	We are making £560 million available to the fund over the four-year period to 2014-15. This compares the £140 million of funding provided for Cycling England in total over the three-year period from 2008 to 2011.
	We will not know the expenditure on cycling-including cyclist safety-until bids have been received in June and determined, which will occur this summer. The level of expenditure on cyclists' safety will depend on the priorities determined by local councils bidding to the fund.

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Monuments

Thomas Docherty: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the House of Commons Commission, what progress the House of Commons Commission has made on plans to erect a memorial to  (a) Robert Bradford and  (b) Sir Anthony Berry within the House of Commons.

John Thurso: The Commission has decided, with the agreement of the families of the late Robert Bradford and Sir Anthony Berry, that memorials to each of the former Members will be placed in the Chamber of the House of Commons. Arrangements are currently being made.

HEALTH

Accident and Emergency Departments

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which hospitals located in towns or cities with populations over 30,000  (a) do and  (b) do not have a 24-hour accident and emergency department.

Simon Burns: The information requested is not held centrally.

Accident and Emergency Departments

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many 24-hour accident and emergency departments there are in each primary care trust area.

Simon Burns: A table setting out how many type 1 (major) accident and emergency (A&E) departments there are in each primary care trust area has been placed in the Library.

Accident and Emergency Departments: East of England

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate has been made of the average travelling distance to a 24-hour accident and emergency department in the East of England.

Simon Burns: This information is not held centrally.
	It is a matter for the local national health service to ensure that there is appropriate provision of urgent and emergency services that are responsive to people's needs.

Children: Abuse

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effects of high-profile child neglect cases on levels of referrals to social services departments.

Tim Loughton: I have been asked to reply.
	There were 603,700 referrals to children's social care services in England in 2009-10, an increase of 56,700 (10.4%) from the 2008-09 figures. The 2008-09 referral figures were themselves a small increase of 8,500 (1.6%) from the 2007-08 figures.
	Although comparing 2009-10 data to previous years is not straightforward-due to a change in how data is collected, it is clear that there has been an overall increase in the number of referrals received by children's social care services. The increase may be explained by a number of factors and the Department has not made a separate assessment of the impact of high profile child protection cases.
	The independent review of child protection in England commissioned from Professor Eileen Munro has been looking closely at the referral process. In her recent interim report, Professor Munro observes that:
	"the variation in referral rates around the country and the fluctuations in referral rates in response to high profile child deaths both suggest the complexity, uncertainty, and anxiety play a significant part in making the decision to refer".
	Professor Munro is examining local innovations that have helped reduce the number of inappropriate referrals to children's social care and will be submitting recommendations for reform on this area to the Government in her final report in April.
	This reply applies to England only. The issues raised are the responsibility of the Welsh Assembly Government in Wales.

Departmental Billing

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of invoices from suppliers his Department paid within 10 days of receipt in January and February 2011.

Simon Burns: The proportion of invoices paid within 10 days of receipt in January and February 2011 was 98.37% and 98.76% respectively.

Departmental Food

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the proportion of the seafood procured for  (a) his Department,  (b) its agency and  (c) the non-departmental public bodies for which he is responsible that (i) was on the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to avoid and (ii) complied with sustainability standards indicated by inclusion in either the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to eat or by the list of fish species certified by the Marine Stewardship Council in (A) 2010 and (B) 2011 to date.

Simon Burns: The information is not held currently centrally for either the Department or its agency and non-departmental public bodies. These bodies hold contracts with suppliers for the delivery of catering and other facilities management services. The contracts are awarded through a competitive tender process based on the best overall value for money solution.
	The Department and its non-departmental public bodies are committed to meeting the new reporting requirements and standards introduced as part of the new Government Buying Standards to be introduced shortly and discussions on this have already been held with the Department's catering provider to ensure they comply with the new standards.

Departmental Leaseback Arrangements

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assets his Department has sold and leased back over the last 12 months; what the sale price was of each asset so sold; and what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of leasing back each such asset over the period of the lease.

Simon Burns: In 2009-10 the Department did not sell and lease back any of its assets. 2009-10 is the latest year for which audited financial information is available. There have been no such transactions to date in 2010-11, and none are expected before the financial year end.

Epilepsy: Deaths

Teresa Pearce: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department holds on the number of preventable deaths from epilepsy and convulsions among people with learning difficulties in the latest period for which figures are available; what steps he plans to take to improve access to epilepsy specialists for people with learning difficulties and epilepsy; and whether he plans to review the provision of health services for people with learning difficulties and epilepsy.

Paul Burstow: The Department does not collect, or hold, information on the number of preventable deaths from epilepsy among people with learning difficulties.
	The Government remain committed to providing access to high quality health care for people with learning disabilities as set out in "Valuing People Now" (2009). Learning disabilities is also included in the "NHS Operating Framework 2011/12", which further demonstrates this Government's commitment to improving health outcomes for all people with learning disabilities. NHS trusts-like all other public services-are responsible for ensuring that they meet the needs of all the people they serve.

Epilepsy: Diagnosis

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of instances of misdiagnosis of epilepsy in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Burstow: We have made no estimate of the number of instances of misdiagnosis of epilepsy.

Health Services: Charities

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has for the transfer of health care provision to the charity sector; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Burstow: The Government have no plans to transfer the provision of any specific type of healthcare to any particular type of provider, including the charity sector. Under the reforms set out in the Command Paper and Health and Social Care Bill, patients would be able to receive the best care from the best possible providers, regardless of who owns or runs them, with different types of provider competing on their merits. There is no goal to transfer national health service-funded care to any particular provider sector.

Horse Meat

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements exist for the enforcement of horse passport regulations in abattoirs.

James Paice: I have been asked to reply.
	Horse passport regulations are enforced throughout England by the appropriate local environmental health and trading standards officers.

Hospices

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospices the NHS operates.

Paul Burstow: The Department does not collect information on the numbers of national health service hospices for adults. Details of hospice and palliative care provision in England are published by Help the Hospices, in partnership with St Christopher's Hospice, in the annual Hospice and Palliative Care Directory. In the latest publication, covering 2009-10, the total number of NHS adult hospice and palliative care inpatient units identified in England is 40.
	There are around 40 children's hospices in England and none of them are operated by the NHS.

Hospital Beds: East of England

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospital beds per head of population there were in  (a) the East of England Strategic Health Authority area and  (b) the Suffolk Primary Care Trust area in each year since 2007-08.

Simon Burns: The data requested for Suffolk Primary Care Trust is not held centrally. However, the number of beds available overnight for the East of England Strategic Health Authority (SHA) per head of population (thousand) is shown as follows:
	
		
			  East of England SHA 
			   Thousand 
			 2007-08 2.71 
			 2008-09 2.70 
			 2009-10 2.65 
			  Source: Department of Health KH03 annual beds census

Musculoskeletal Disorders: Health Services

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the outcomes were of his Department's expenditure on problems in the musculoskeletal system in 2009-10.

Paul Burstow: The Department invested £100,000 in 2009-10 in the development of a national best practice tariff to support improvements in the quality and outcome of care for people with fragility hip fractures. The best practice tariff started in April 2010. It is awarded where surgery is undertaken within 36 hours of admission, where specialist geriatric assessment takes place within 72 hours and where the patient follows an agreed care pathway. Data relating to adherence to the best practice criteria are collected by the National Hip Fracture Database and are scheduled for publication in July 2011.
	In July 2009 the Department published The Prevention Package for Older People Resources which includes material relating to falls and fractures. It is not possible to disaggregate expenditure specifically relating to problems of the musculoskeletal system, however, and no data on outcomes from use of the package are available.

Musculoskeletal Disorders: Health Services

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of variations in levels of expenditure by primary care trusts on problems of the musculoskeletal system; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Burstow: Variations in levels of expenditure by primary care trusts (PCT) in England on problems of the musculoskeletal system forms part of a wider assessment of variation in expenditure that was conducted for the NHS Atlas of Variation. The atlas highlights the amount each PCT spends on clinical services and links this with the health outcomes patients see. A copy has been placed in the Library and can be downloaded at:
	www.rightcare.nhs.uk/atlas/
	Taken from 2009 data already in the public domain, the atlas assesses for the first time what 152 PCTs across England achieve with the money spent on services for their local population, as compared to other PCTs. Expenditure for Problems with the Musculoskeletal System across PCTs in England is outlined within the Atlas in map 19 on page 60.

NHS: Freedom of Information

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost to the NHS of providing information requested under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 since the entry into force of the Act; and what assessment he has made of the likely effect of such costs on the competitiveness of public bodies subject to the provisions of the Act compared to those private or voluntary sector providers who are not subject to those provisions.

Simon Burns: The information requested is not held centrally.

Nurses: Schools

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on  (a) expenditure on and  (b) empowerment of school nurses authorised to recommend paediatric continence services for pupils.

Anne Milton: Officials from the Department of Health and Department for Education meet on a regular basis to discuss all aspects of school nursing.
	It is for local national health service organisations to determine how best to use their funds to meet national and local priorities for improving health and to commission services accordingly. This process provides the means for addressing local needs within the health community including the provision of school nursing services.
	School nurses have a key role in continence services for example managing nocturnal enuresis (bed wetting), advice on childhood constipation and supporting children and young people with disabilities and school staff to manage continence issues in school.

Sanitation: Schools

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on steps to ensure that water and toilet facilities in schools are at a standard sufficient to prevent avoidable negative health outcomes.

Anne Milton: The Secretary of State for Health has not discussed standards of water and toilet facilities in schools with the Secretary of State for Education.

Sexual Health

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to ensure that local authorities will maintain its work in respect of sexual health following the transfer to them of responsibility for public health.

Anne Milton: On 21 December 2010, we published the consultation document "Healthy Lives, Healthy People: consultation on the funding and commissioning routes for public health", a copy of which has already been placed in the Library. The consultation period ends on 31 March. For sexual health, we propose that local authorities will be responsible for commissioning comprehensive open-access sexual health services using funds from the ring-fenced public health budget.
	The Department wants to ensure that local authorities are accountable to their local communities, and that they are able to determine how best to improve public health and reduce inequalities in health in their local area. However, some public health services for which local authorities will take responsibility will need to be commissioned in a universal way in all areas. The consultation asks which services should be mandatory for local authorities to provide or commission.
	The public health grant to local authorities will be made under section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003 and as a ring-fenced grant will carry some conditions about how it is to be used. These conditions could be used to ensure the ring-fenced grant is spent appropriately, including ensuring value for money.
	We are consulting on which essential conditions should be placed on the ring-fence grant to ensure a successful transition of responsibility for public health to local authorities. For example, to specify the role of the Director of Public Health in relation to spending decisions: or, to provide for other accountability arrangements. However, we will need to balance the need to ensure accountability for spend against the desirability of maximising the capacity for local decision-making about how best to spend the money and to minimise bureaucracy. We intend to seek to ensure this balance in any conditions that we impose on the grant.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Departmental Billing

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what proportion of invoices from suppliers his Department paid within 10 days of receipt in January and February 2011.

John Penrose: The proportion of invoices paid to suppliers by the Department within 10 days of receipt in January and February 2011 are set out in the table:
	
		
			   Percentage of invoices paid within 10 days 
			 January 2011 91.25 
			 February 2011 96.60

Departmental Leaseback Arrangement

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what assets his Department has sold and leased back over the last 12 months; what the sale price was of each asset so sold; and what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of leasing back each such asset over the period of the lease.

John Penrose: Nil.

Licensing

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 17 February 2011,  Official Report, column 909W, on licensing, whether he expects the programme-making and special events band manager award to take place prior to 2016; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: There is currently no timescale for appointing a band manager for the PMSE sector. Ofcom has stated that it will revisit the concept following the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Licensing

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 17 February 2011,  Official Report, column 909W, on spectrum licensing, when he expects the process of appointing a band manager with responsibilities for the programme-making and special events sector to  (a) begin,  (b) be completed and  (c) come into effect; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: There is currently no plan for appointing a band manager for the programme-making and special events sector. The Office of Communications (Ofcom) has stated that it will revisit the concept following the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Licensing

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 17 February 2011,  Official Report, column 909W, on spectrum licensing, which companies or organisations took part in the tender process undertaken by Ofcom for licensing and spectrum management services to the programme-making and special events sector; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: Arqiva Ltd, Interconnect Ltd and Transfinite Systems Ltd took part in the tender process.

Licensing

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 17 February 2011,  Official Report, column 909W, on spectrum licensing, whether the current arrangements to provide licensing and spectrum management services to the programme-making and special events (PMSE) sector are interim arrangements prior to the appointment of a PMSE band manager; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: No, since there are no current plans to appoint a PMSE band manager.

Licensing

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 17 February 2011,  Official Report, column 909W, on spectrum licensing, how many companies or organisations took part in the tender process undertaken by Ofcom for licensing and spectrum management services to the programme-making and special events sector; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: Three organisations took part in the tender process for licensing and spectrum management services to the programme making and special events sector.

Newspaper Press

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what recent assessment he has made of the economic prospects for the local newspaper industry.

Edward Vaizey: Local newspapers continue to face challenging times as they meet the demands of structural and cyclical change. There is some evidence to show that newspapers might be over the worst, but advertising, which is the main source of income, remains depressed. To allow local news groups to provide a better offering to advertisers the Secretary of State recently announced that he would introduce secondary legislation to repeal certain cross media ownership rules. These include the rule that prohibits a person that owns a local radio licence with more than 45% coverage to also own a local newspaper with 50% or more coverage within the same area. This would allow local media groups to offer a more comprehensive package to advertisers and follows the recommendation made by the industry regulator Ofcom.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Asylum

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the potential benefits to children in families seeking asylum of the introduction of the Family Returns Panel.

Damian Green: The panel will provide independent advice to the UK Border Agency on how best to ensure the return of families who have been found to have no right to remain in the country and who have failed to go voluntarily or to comply with instructions to do so without the need for enforcement action. The panel will ensure that the welfare of children is a central consideration in the new process. The panel will not have any role in respect of families whose application for asylum is still under consideration.

Borders: Personal Records

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in respect of what proportion of air passenger movements passenger name record data were used for  (a) security checks and  (b) risk assessments in the latest period for which figures are available.

Damian Green: We do not hold details on the proportion of passenger name record (PNR) data used for security checks and risk assessments.

Borders: Personal Records

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her policy is on introducing passenger name record checks on all air passenger movements  (a) inbound to,  (b) through and  (c) outbound from the UK.

Damian Green: The extension of passenger name record checks is presently being considered for inclusion in the e-Borders programme, which operates inbound to and outbound from, the UK: no timescale has been set for the inclusion of additional checks, as this is dependent on approval of the business case.
	At present we are collecting passenger name record (PNR) data on a voluntary basis from a number of carriers on high-risk routes. These carriers are providing PNR data on 146 routes covering 14.4 million passenger movements into and out of the UK per year.

Borders: Personal Records

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what timetable she has set for the introduction of  (a) a manual and  (b) an automated authority to carry function as part of the UK's passenger checks; and by what date she expects this function to be available in respect of all flights landing at UK airports.

Damian Green: The Government are committed to making changes to pre-flight checks to identify people who pose a potential terrorist threat and prevent those who pose a severe terrorist threat from flying into and out of the UK.
	e-Borders will provide the capability to support a manual process and, in due course, potentially provide an automated process to provide or deny authority to carry at the point of check-in for certain categories of individuals seeking to travel to and from the UK.
	No timetable has yet been established. We will shortly be undertaking consultation on proposals to implement a statutory authority to carry scheme, initially on a manual basis. We are currently examining options for deploying an automated process.

Borders: Personal Records

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department from what proportion of air passenger movements her Department captured passenger name record data in the latest period for which figures are available.

Damian Green: We are currently collecting passenger name record data for 11.4% of total air passenger movements.

Burglary

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offences involving bogus callers were reported in each London borough in each of the last three years.

James Brokenshire: The available information relates to offences of distraction burglary recorded by the police and is given in the following table.
	
		
			  Offences of distraction burglary recorded by the police by London borough 
			  Number of offences 
			  London borough  2007-08  2008-09  2009-10 
			 Barking and Dagenham 60 92 101 
			 Barnet 106 64 75 
			 Bexley 55 51 30 
			 Brent 55 64 53 
			 Bromley 94 152 43 
			 Camden 42 45 47 
			 City of Westminster 22 17 23 
			 Croydon 82 110 85 
			 Ealing 63 72 95 
			 Enfield 80 97 86 
			 Greenwich 70 90 51 
			 Hackney 63 44 53 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 28 38 33 
			 Haringey 65 67 63 
			 Harrow 33 48 31 
			 Havering 65 126 68 
			 Hillingdon 83 91 60 
			 Hounslow 67 77 81 
			 Islington 70 66 50 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 15 18 43 
			 Kingston upon Thames 29 36 46 
			 Lambeth 44 89 52 
			 Lewisham 108 130 65 
			 Merton 47 48 35 
			 Newham 55 80 95 
			 Redbridge 95 100 60 
			 Richmond upon Thames 32 57 45 
			 Southwark 85 104 90 
			 Sutton 37 29 35 
			 Tower Hamlets 55 50 86 
			 Waltham Forest 106 134 100 
			 Wandsworth 74 87 68 
			 Total 1,985 2,373 1,948

Departmental Food

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will estimate the proportion of the seafood procured for  (a) her Department,  (b) its agencies and  (c) the non-departmental public bodies for which she is responsible that (i) was on the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to avoid and (ii) complied with sustainability standards indicated by inclusion in either the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to eat or by the list of fish species certified by the Marine Stewardship Council in (A) 2010 and (B) 2011 to date.

Damian Green: The Home Department inclusive of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies does not contract directly for food supplies but procures catering services through wider facilities management (FM) or operational service contractors.
	When placing a contract with FM or operational services contractors, government guidance on sustainable food and farming is incorporated in appropriate terms and conditions with regards to the procurement of food. Purchasing policy is reviewed frequently to incorporate new policy initiatives.
	The Department's caterers are not contractually required to have systems in place to monitor and provide detailed reports across the wide range of food which they purchase. To introduce contractual obligations for caterers to set up complex reporting regimes would lead to additional expenditure and incur disproportionate cost.

Domestic Violence

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what definition of the term domestic violence her Department uses for the purposes of official statistics; and which relationships are covered by this term.

Lynne Featherstone: There are two sources of official statistics on crime in England and Wales: crimes recorded by the police and those estimated from the British Crime Survey (BCS), a representative sample survey of adults aged 16 and over resident in households.
	Police recorded crime statistics are defined on the basis of legal offences and incidents of domestic violence cannot be separately identified as it is the outcome of such incidents which will be recorded as an offence by the police e.g. actual bodily harm. Additionally, no information is centrally available on the relationship between the victim and the offender.
	The BCS has two definitions: a narrow measure of "domestic violence" defined as comprising incidents of wounding and assaults which involves partners, ex-partners, other relatives or household members; and a broader one of "domestic abuse" defined as any non-sexual emotional or financial abuse, threats, physical force, sexual assault or stalking carried out by a current or former partner or other family member.

Drugs: East of England

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drug-related offences were recorded in each police force area in the East of England in each year since 1997.

James Brokenshire: Data collected centrally on recorded crime do not identify whether offences are drug related. The recorded crime statistics do include the number of specific drug offences recorded by the police and the available information is given in the table.
	The recording of drugs offences by the police is particularly dependent on police activities and priorities. Furthermore, in recent years the number of offences recorded has been affected by the powers available to the police for possession of cannabis offences. In April 2004, the introduction of cannabis warnings allowed the police to issue a warning on the street and in January 2009 the police were also given the power to issue penalty notices for disorder (PNDs) for possession of cannabis.
	
		
			  Drug offences recorded by th e police in the East of England r egion 
			   Bedfordshire  Cambridgeshire  Essex  Hertfordshire  Norfolk  Suffolk 
			 1997(1) 223 205 401 215 337 333 
			 1998-99(2) 1,141 1,166 2,312 1,197 1,534 1,581 
			 1999-2000 1,081 1,011 2,421 1,180 1,561 1,410 
			 2000-01 896 829 2,208 1,438 1,160 1,178 
			 2001-02 1,009 798 2,212 1,350 1,211 1,292 
			 2002-03 1,069 904 2,377 1,553 1,392 1,689 
			 2003-04 1,130 1,047 2,295 1,678 1,508 1,923 
			 2004-05 1,131 1,174 2,328 1,754 1,602 1,974 
			 2005-06 1,228 1,442 2,889 2,044 1,821 2,015 
			 2006-07 1,015 2,124 3,254 2,945 2,005 1,781 
			 2007-08 1,178 2,904 3,971 3,539 2,191 1,884 
			 2008-09 1,362 2,583 4,766 4,388 2,193 2,109 
			 2009-10 1,381 2,355 4,056 4,902 1,830 1,822 
			 1. Trafficking in controlled drugs only. 2. Includes trafficking offences, possession offences and other drug offences.  Notes: 1. In 1998-99, the coverage was extended and counting rules changed. Figures before and after that date are not directly comparable. 2. The National Crime Recording Standard was introduced in 2002-03. Figures before and after that date are not directly comparable.

Homicide

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment she has made of homicide rates in each socio-economic group.

James Brokenshire: No formal assessment has been made of homicide rates by socio-economic group.
	The employment status classifications on the Homicide Index are not necessarily comparable to those defined by the National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification, and it is not possible to show the figures as rates per million.

Knives: Crime

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent estimate she has made of the level of  (a) knife crime and  (b) homicide by use of a knife by people aged under 20 years in (i) London, (ii) England and (iii) Wales.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office collects data on offences involving the use of a knife or sharp instrument from the police forces of England and Wales via a special additional data collection. This collection does not contain data on victims or suspects and, therefore, it is not possible to break the data down by age of suspect.
	However, homicide data collected via the Homicide Index can be broken down by age of suspect. The Homicide Index is a record level database containing information on each homicide recorded by the police in England and Wales. Data are provided in Table A.
	
		
			  Table A: Homicide by sharp instrument offences currently recorded by the police in England and Wales( 1)  where the suspect was aged under  20 years, 2009-10 
			  Area  Number of homicides 
			 London(2) 12 
			 England 28 
			 Wales 3 
			 England and Wales 31 
			 (1) Excluding British Transport Police. (2) London includes Metropolitan and City of London Police.

Passports: Diplomatic Service

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether ministers in her Department authorised the issue of false passports to members of the diplomatic mission to eastern Libya.

Alistair Burt: I have been asked to reply.
	I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to the House on 7 March 2011,  Official Report, columns 643-45.

Refugee Council: Finance

Tristram Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent representations she has received on reductions in the level of funding provided to the Refugee Council.

Damian Green: My officials and I have received a number of letters from MPs and other interested parties on this issue.

Road Traffic Offences: Suffolk

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many drivers were prosecuted under the Road Traffic Act 1988 for an offence of failing to stop after an accident in Suffolk in each year since 2005;
	(2)  how many drivers were prosecuted for offences under section (a) 3 and (b) 34 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 in Suffolk in each year since 1997.

Crispin Blunt: I have been asked to reply.
	The number of proceedings at magistrates courts for offences of failing to stop after an accident in the Suffolk police force area from 2005 to 2009 (latest available) can be viewed in Table 1.
	The number of proceedings at magistrates courts for offences under sections 3 and 34 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 in the Suffolk police force area from 1997 to 2009 can be viewed in Table 2.
	Court proceedings data for 2010 are planned for publication in spring 2011.
	
		
			  Table 1: Number of proceedings at magistrates courts for offences under s.170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, Suffolk police force area, 2005 to 2009( 1,2) 
			  Offence  Act  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009 
			 Failing to stop after accident Road Traffic Act 1988, s.170(4) 166 162 182 66 138 
			 Failing to report accident within 24 hours Road Traffic Act 1988, s.170(4)  and (7) 114 116 136 52 128 
			 Total  280 278 318 118 266 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Number of proceedings at magistrates courts for selected offences under the Road Traffic Act 1988, Suffolk police force area, 1997 to 2009( 1,2) 
			  Offence  Act  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003 
			 Careless driving without due care and attention or reasonable consideration for other road users Road Traffic Act 1988, s.3 668 589 519 537 523 600 540 
			 Driving on a footway Road Traffic Act 1988, s.34(1); Metropolitan Police Act 1839, S.54(7); Highway Act 1835, s.72 3 4 2 4 3 2 4 
		
	
	
		
			  Offence  Act  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009 
			 Careless driving without due care and attention or reasonable consideration for other road users Road Traffic Act 1988, s.3 580 589 514 548 382 625 
			 Driving on a footway Road Traffic Act 1988, s.34(1); Metropolitan Police Act 1839, S.54(7); Highway Act 1835, s.72 6 6 2 1 2 3 
			 (1) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.  (2) It is known that for some police force areas, the reporting of court proceedings, in particular those relating to summary motoring offences, may be less than complete.   Source:  Justice Statistics Analytical Services-Ministry of Justice.

Visas

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many multi-visit visas her Department issued in each of the last three years; and in respect of which 10 countries the greatest number of such visas were granted.

Damian Green: The number of multiple-entry visit visas issued globally in each of the fast three years is shown in table 1. Table 2 lists the top 10 nationalities and the number of visas issued in each of these years.
	
		
			  Table 1: Multi-entry visit visas issued 
			   Global total 
			 2008 135,5380 
			 2009 138,5309 
			 2010 153,9519 
		
	
	
		
			  Table: 2: Top 10 nationalities 
			   2008  2009  2010 
			 India 286,435 275,809 301,804 
			 Russia 120,450 110,004 132,714 
			 China 96,869 102,143 138,164 
			 Nigeria 91,682 96,216 105,238 
			 Turkey 72,521 69,882 78,969 
			 South Africa(1) 516 93,627 101,374 
			 Pakistan 76,144 52,647 52,594 
			 Saudi Arabia 46,685 56,635 60,992 
			 Kuwait 38,965 42,596 46,183 
			 Thailand 32,742 37,909 43,633 
			 (1) The figure for South Africa reflects the imposition of a visa regime in 2008.  Note: This information is based on Management Information. It is provisional and subject to change.

Visas: Students

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps her Department is taking to identify fraudulent student visa applications.

Damian Green: The UK Border Agency is already taking steps to identify fraudulent (student) visa applications. The UK Border Agency's International Group currently has over 100 intelligence officers overseas in its Risk and Liaison Overseas Network (RALON), providing an effective overseas disruption capability. The UK Border Agency has also established police referral programmes in 53 countries to deter the use of false documents as part of the visa application process.
	The UK Border Agency ensures that all sponsoring educational intuitions have a valid UK Border Agency Tier 4 licence and all applicants' biometrics are checked against various immigration, criminal and counter-terrorism databases in the UK. Robust checks are carried out to verify the authenticity of supporting documents.
	Applicants will be automatically refused and may be banned from coming to the UK for 10 years if they use a false document, lie or withhold relevant information. They may also be banned if they have breached immigration laws in the UK.
	The Government are concerned about the number of non-EEA nationals who enter the UK on student visas but whose main intention is to work and settle permanently in the UK. Nearly half of those entering via the student route come to study courses below degree level and abuse is particularly common at those levels. We are reviewing the student entry route. A consultation on the student immigration system closed on 31 January. The results of the consultation will be published in due course.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund: Lincolnshire

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many grants through the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund have been given in grant aid to organisations in North Lincolnshire; and what the value was of each such grant.

Richard Benyon: Monies from the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF) are paid to local authorities through Area Based Grants. Payment is made to Lincolnshire county council, not specifically North Lincolnshire; and the decision on how these monies are spent is the responsibility of that authority.
	Lincolnshire county council was allocated £107,000 from the ALSF for 2010-11. In addition, other ALSF grants may have been made available to wildlife and archaeological trusts etc., for example, through DEFRA's main delivery partners.

Agriculture: Payments

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps the Rural Payments Agency is taking to increase the speed with which it processes the claims of applicants whose single farm payment status has changed during the year.

James Paice: I refer my hon. Friend to the written statement I made on 4 March 2011,  Official Report, columns 47-48WS, about progress on the 2010 single payment scheme.

Agriculture: Research

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she has made an estimate of total levels of private sector agricultural research and development funding in the last five years; and whether she has made an estimate of the likely level of such funding in each of the next four financial years.

James Paice: DEFRA does not hold information on private sector investment in agricultural research and development.

Beef: Production

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent reports she has received on the cost of beef production to farmers.

James Paice: holding answer 7 March 2011
	 DEFRA has not received any recent reports that are specifically on the costs of beef production to farmers. Data from the Farm Business Survey indicate that average farm business income on grazing livestock (cattle and sheep) farms increased over the period 2007-08 to 2009-10 from £12,500 to £22,000 for lowland enterprises and from £10,500 to £22,000 for those in the less favoured areas (LFA).
	However, provisional estimates for 2010-11 indicate a fall in income to around £11,500 in the lowlands and to £14,500 in the LFA due to higher input costs and lower prices for finished cattle.

Bees: Pesticides

Steven Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made for benchmarking purposes of the effect on bee populations in other countries of the banning of neonicotinoid pesticides.

James Paice: Four EU member states have placed some additional restrictions-not bans-on the use of neonicotinoid insecticides. The UK pesticides regulator keeps up to date with developments on this issue through contacts with its counterparts in other member states and participation in EU fora.
	A scientific report submitted to the European Food Safety Authority in December 2009, entitled: "Bee Mortality and Bee Surveillance in Europe", showed that although there have been some high colony losses in Europe, there is a lack of comparative data and the contributory factors are not fully understood. In addition, the effectiveness of the surveillance systems employed by member states varies considerably, which causes difficulties in assessing trends and forecasts. The European Commission has recently announced, as part of a series of initiatives on bee health, that a pilot surveillance programme will be started-by the end of 2011. The programme is aimed at providing a better understanding of the situation in the EU.
	There has been a significant reduction in the number of colonies that have been lost in England and Wales over the last two years and last year's losses were the lowest since 2001.

Bees: Pesticides

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent representations she has received on the effects of neonicotinoid pesticides on bees and other invertebrates.

James Paice: DEFRA and the Health and Safety Executive's Chemicals Regulation Directorate, as the pesticides regulator, has received representations from a number of Members of Parliament, and some organisations and members of the public concerned about the effect of neonicotinoid pesticides on bees and other pollinators.

Biodiversity: International Cooperation

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what support her Department is providing for the establishment of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.

Richard Benyon: The establishment of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services is a priority for this Government. We have been closely engaged in securing international support for the platform and welcome the agreement made by the UN General Assembly last year to put it into operation. We have agreed to provide £2 million over the next four years to assist in this process.

Circuses: Animal Welfare

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 16 November 2010,  Official Report, column 689W, on circuses: animal welfare, what the reason is for the time taken to announce the outcome of the consultation on the use of wild animals in travelling circuses.

James Paice: Ministers and officials have been carefully considering the findings of the consultation and seeking the views of key interest groups. An announcement will be made shortly.

Circuses: Animal Welfare

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Newport West of 17 February 2011,  Official Report, column 925W, on circuses: animal welfare, for what reason Lord Henley has undertaken additional meetings with representatives of animal welfare groups and the circus industry following the end of the consultation on the use of wild animals in travelling circuses.

James Paice: Additional meetings with animal welfare groups have been held because these organisations wanted to have an opportunity to raise their concerns direct with DEFRA Ministers. It also provided an opportunity to question these organisations about their proposals.

Departmental Expenditure

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what expenditure  (a) her Department and  (b) each public body sponsored by her Department incurred on engaging external audit services in each of the last three years; and to which service providers such payments were made in each year.

Richard Benyon: The Department and its arm's length bodies report the expenditure on audit services in their annual resource accounts which are publicly available. The majority of these services are provided by National Audit Office (NAO) which is not classed as an external audit services provider.
	The NAO scrutinises public spending on behalf of Parliament, helping it to hold Government Departments to account and helping public service managers improve performance and service delivery. They audit the financial statements of all central Government Departments, agencies and other public bodies and report the results to Parliament.
	The following table shows where an external auditor was used for annual audit of financial activities.
	
		
			  £ 
			   2007-08  2008-09  2009-10 
			 National Forest Company - - (1)6,200 
			 Joint Nature Conservation Committee (2)28,967 - - 
			 Consumer Council for Water (3)26,173 (3)30,618 (3)30,330 
			 Commission for Rural Communities - (4)8,790 (5)12,985.14 
			 Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (6)63,416 (6)32,340 (6)33,244 
			 (1 )Grant Thornton  (2 )Moore Stephens  (3 )KPMG  (4 )PKF UK  (5 )RSM Tenon  (6 )PricewaterhouseCoopers

Departmental Food

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will estimate the proportion of the seafood procured for  (a) her Department,  (b) its agencies and  (c) the non-departmental public bodies for which she is responsible that (i) was on the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to avoid and (ii) complied with sustainability standards indicated by inclusion in either the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to eat or by the list of fish species certified by the Marine Stewardship Council in (A) 2010 and (B) 2011 to date.

Richard Benyon: No such estimate has been made as this information is not currently held centrally due to the numerous catering contracts in place. However, DEFRA's new catering contract which will commence in April stipulates that the contractor shall ensure that the fish is supplied from sustainable sources and in compliance with the Government Buying Standard for food and catering when established and as amended from time to time.

Departmental Manpower

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many staff in her Department were in the civil service redeployment pool on the latest date for which figures are available; and how many of these had been in the redeployment pool for more than six months at that date.

Richard Benyon: On 1 March 2011 seven employees were recorded on the Department's redeployment register. One of these employees has been on the redeployment register for more than six months at this date.

Dogs

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many exempted dogs subject to the provisions of section 1 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 her Department has recorded on its exempted register  (a) nationally and  (b) in Merseyside.

James Paice: holding answer 9 March 2011
	As at 7 March, there are 1,324 live section one dogs on the Index of Exempted Dogs nationally. Of these, 181 are recorded in the Merseyside area.

EU Grants and Loans

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what arrangements are in place for schemes funded through the Rural Development Programme for England following the closure of the regional development agencies; and if she will make a statement.

James Paice: I refer my hon. Friend to the written statement I made on 28 February 2011,  Official Report, column 6WS.

Fish: Consumption

Gordon Birtwistle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she has considered measures to encourage consumers in England to eat  (a) dab,  (b) coley,  (c) flounder and  (d) other less popular fish.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA has commissioned work to understand the potential for encouraging increased consumption of less popular species like dab, flounder and gurnards as part of an initiative called Fishing for the Markets. This project aims to increase consumption of sustainable, underutilised fish species that are often discarded. Coley is a quota species with very good quota uptake and so it may not be a good candidate for us to encourage increased consumer uptake, as a small increase could mean we overfish the stock.
	The Fishing for the Markets project began last year and research is ongoing. Initial results will be available in spring 2011 and measures to encourage consumption of those species considered sustainable will be developed from these findings.

Forestry Commission

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what alterations she has made to levels of funding to ( a) local authorities and  (b) other public bodies in each of the next four financial years as a consequence of her recent announcements on policy on the disposal of land owned and managed by the Forestry Commission.

James Paice: No alterations have been made to funding given to local authorities or other public bodies as a consequence of recent announcements regarding the disposal of land owned or managed by the Forestry Commission.

Forests

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on which dates she met the Prime Minister to discuss her policy on the future of land owned and managed by the Forestry Commission.

James Paice: The Secretary of State met the Prime Minister on 14 February to discuss the future of the public forest estate. She also spoke to him on the phone and at other meetings on other occasions.

Genetically Modified Organisms: Food

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her policy is on legislation governing the production of genetically modified foods.

James Paice: The Government believe that genetically modified crops and foods should be subject to a robust assessment of their potential impact on human health and the environment, taking full account of the scientific evidence. This is consistent with the existing EU legislation in this area, which provides for case-by-case, science-based decisions.

Growth

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what criteria she plans to use to monitor the sustainability of Government policies on growth.

James Paice: holding answer 4 March 2011
	The sustainability of Government policies will be monitored using the criteria set out in the new mainstreaming SD vision announced on 28 February 2011.

Horse Passports

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many horses registered with passports she estimates on average die each year; and how many passports for dead horses were surrendered or cancelled in the last 12 months for which figures are available.

James Paice: During the course of 2010 a total, of 44,230 horses were reported to the National Equine Database (NED) as having died, of which 17,523 were reported as having died during the course of that calendar year. The dates of the deaths of the remaining 26,707 horses were not notified and are therefore not known.

Horse Passports

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has for the future of  (a) horse passports and  (b) the National Equine Database; and if she will make a statement.

James Paice: We are currently considering the Government's requirements in respect of horse passports and associated data. In the meantime, we are proposing to extend the current National Equine Database contract which expires at the end of the current financial year.

Horse Passports

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether a meeting at her Department to discuss the abolition of 80 equine passport issuing authorities on 24 January 2011 was convened by  (a) officials or  (b) Ministers of her Department; and what outcomes she expects there to be from that meeting.

James Paice: holding answer 24 January 2011
	 The meeting between DEFRA officials and horse Passport Issuing Organisations (PIOs) scheduled to be held on 24 January has been postponed. An alternative date has yet to be set. The meeting was intended to discuss the future authorisation and issuing of horse passports.

Horse Passports

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the cost to her Department was of the National Equine Database in the last year for which figures are available; and what plans she has for the future funding of that database.

James Paice: holding answer 24 January 2011
	 During the financial year 2009-10, DEFRA paid NED Ltd a total of £172,915.95 (exclusive of VAT) for the provision of the National Equine Database. The current contract which expires at the end of the current financial year is due to be extended pending further consideration of the Government's ongoing requirements in respect of horse passport data.

Horse Passports

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many equids she estimates are in the UK; and how many horse passports have been issued to date.

James Paice: holding answer 24 January 2011
	 The latest estimate of the horse population is taken from the British Equestrian Trade Association (BETA) National Equestrian Survey 2005-06. This survey estimated the horse population of Great Britain to be 1.3 million.
	As at 31 December 2010 the National Equine Database held records for 1,275,317 equine passports issued in the UK.

Milk

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions she has had with representatives of supermarket retailers on prices paid to milk producers; and if she will make a statement.

James Paice: holding answer 2 March 2011
	On 20 January I chaired the Dairy Supply Chain Forum which included representatives of supermarket retailers. We had productive discussions on the health and future of the dairy sector, the trade balance, the EU Commission's legislative proposals, and industry sustainability. We did not explicitly discuss the issue of milk prices because this would not be appropriate under competition law.

Milk

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent reports she has received on  (a) the cost of milk production to farmers and  (b) the profit level per litre of milk produced by farmers.

James Paice: holding answer 7 March 2011
	 The NFU has drawn the attention of DEFRA to their recent report, "The Cost of Milk Production". This can be found at:
	www.nfuonline.com
	DEFRA has estimated the following costs(1) of milk production for 2009-10 using data from the Farm Business Survey in England(2). These estimates are representative of the vast majority of milk produced in England and will include a small proportion of organic production.
	
		
			  Cost of production in pence per litre  Proportion of milk produced under these costs in 2009-10 (percentage) 
			 Less than 20ppl 22 
			 20ppl to less than 22.5ppl 25 
			 22.5ppl to less than 25ppl 27 
			 More than 25ppl 26 
			 (1) The costs included in this analysis cover fixed and variable costs and imputed charges for unpaid labour and an imputed rent on owned land. Some of the costs are allocated to the dairy enterprise by arithmetic estimation rather than directly from the farm's accounts. (2) The Farm Business Survey sample covers businesses with a Standard Labour Requirement (SLR) of at least 0.5, i.e. a size considered sufficient to occupy a farmer for at least half their time.  Source: Farm Business Survey, England, 2009-10 
		
	
	In round terms the average cost of production was around 22.5ppl and the average price received was nearly 24ppl.
	The Farm Business Survey also reported on the level of farm business income for dairy farms in England. This averaged £56,100 per farm in 2009-10 with agriculture contributing over £24,000. Agri-environment schemes, diversified activities and the single payment accounted for the remainder.

Milk

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what measures are available to her Department to control the price per unit paid to milk producers.

James Paice: The Government do not believe in setting milk prices. These are the result of commercial decisions. The market must drive both production and price levels. This will ultimately help develop an efficient, profitable sector that is able to compete on the global market.

Plastic Bags: Wales

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment her Department has made of the implications for UK-wide environmental policy of the introduction of a levy on single-use carrier bags in Wales.

Richard Benyon: No such study of the introduction of a levy for single use carrier bags in Wales has been made by DEFRA. The Government will set out future waste policies for England when the DEFRA Waste Review is published in May.

Public Sector: Food

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what her policy is on the possible inclusion in the Government Buying Standards of a requirement to purchase seafood that is subject to sustainability standards as indicated either by inclusion on the Marine Conservation Society's fish to eat list or by certification by the Marine Stewardship Council;
	(2)  what her policy is on the possible inclusion in Government Buying Standards of a prohibition on the purchase of seafood on the Marine Conservation Society's fish to avoid list.

James Paice: We want to lead by example, which is why we are currently establishing the first ever Government Buying Standards for food. We are looking at a range of options, including buying 100% of our fish from sustainable sources and we will announce the final standards later this month.

Rural Areas: Business

Helen Grant: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to aid diversification amongst rural businesses.

James Paice: Assistance is available through the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) to help rural businesses with their diversification plans. The RDPE aims to improve competitiveness in the agriculture and forestry sector; safeguard and enhance the rural environment; and foster competitive and sustainable rural businesses and thriving rural communities.

Sewers

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions she has had with the water and sewerage companies on the proposed transfer of private sewers to water companies.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA officials continue to meet regularly with Water UK, the representative body for the water industry, to discuss various aspects of the Government's proposals for the transfer of private sewers.

Slaughterhouses: Regulation

Marcus Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will take steps to reduce the regulatory burden on small abattoirs.

James Paice: The Government have established an industry-led Task Force on Farming Regulation to identify ways of reducing regulatory burdens on the farming and food processing industry, and achieving a risk-based system of regulation. The regulatory burden on abattoirs is one of the areas being considered. We look forward to considering the task force's recommendations, once it has completed its work later in the spring.

Supermarkets: Competition

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 28 October 2010,  Official Report, column 455W, on the Groceries Supply Code of Practice, whether she plans to introduce in the draft legislation a provision to enable the Groceries Code Adjudicator to ensure that supermarkets pay farmers within a reasonable time for the products they produce.

Edward Davey: I have been asked to reply.
	The Government have agreed to establish the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) in response to the Competition Commission's recommendation that there was a need for a body to monitor and enforce the Groceries Supply Code of Practice (as contained within the Groceries [Supply Chain Practices] Market Investigation Order 2009). The code is focussed on contracts between retailers and their direct suppliers, including the provision, in Part 4, for "No delay in Payments".
	The Government have no intention to extend the GCA's role beyond monitoring and enforcing the Groceries Supply Code of Practice.
	Transforming the long-standing culture of late payment requires a multi-faceted strategy to engage and educate business. The Prompt Payment Code, developed with the Institute of Credit Management, seeks to identify payment exemplars across both the public and private sectors. Signatories to the Prompt Payment Code, including some of the retailers covered by the Groceries Supply Code of Practice, are required to pay within agreed terms and to communicate effectively with suppliers. Further information on the Prompt Payment Code can be found at:
	http://www.promptpaymentcode.org.uk

Timber: Imports

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps her Department takes to ensure that imported timber has been obtained from legal sources; and if she will make a statement.

James Paice: We will put in place legislation to prohibit the first-placing of illegal timber on the EU market, restricting its purchase, possession and sale down the supply chain. Further details, including our plans for public consultation, will be announced in due course. This is complemented by the Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade Regulation, which requires timber imports from countries that have signed a Voluntary Partnership Agreement with the EU to carry a licence to prove legality. These new legislative measures underline our commitment to eliminate illegal timber from the UK market.

Veterinary Services

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many qualified veterinary surgeons of each grade were directly employed by her Department in each of the last 10 financial years.

James Paice: I regret that I am unable to provide information in the format and for the entire period requested. The figures do not include veterinarians in the senior civil service.
	Animal Health and the Veterinary Laboratories Agency employ the largest number of veterinarians in the DEFRA network and their figures provide the clearest indication of the trends over recent years.
	
		
			  Animal Health (AH) 
			   Veterinary Officer  Veterinary Inspector  Grade 6  Grade 7  Total 
			 2007 250 42 - - 292 
			 2008 236 44 - - 280 
			 2009 254 52 4 17 327 
			 2010 225 54 4 17 300 
			 2011 210 46 4 17 277 
		
	
	
		
			  Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) 
			   Pay Band A  Pay Band B  Pay Band C  Total 
			 2006 9 21 75 105 
			 2007 8 18 70 96 
			 2008 12 12 74 98 
			 2009 12 12 70 94 
			 2010 11 12 73 96 
			 2011 10 11 72 93 
		
	
	
		
			  Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) 
			   Veterinary Research Officer  Senior Research Officer  Grade 6  CEO  Total 
			 2006 8 2 3  14 
			 2007 9 2 3  15 
			 2008 8 2 3  14 
			 2009 10 2 2  15 
			 2010 12 2 1  16 
			 2011 10 1 2  14 
		
	
	
		
			  Core DEFRA 
			   Veterinary Advis e r  Grade 6  Total 
			 2007 24 12 36 
			 2008 22 10 32 
			 2009 20 8 28 
			 2010 19 9 28 
			 2011 17 7 24 
		
	
	
		
			  Combined AH, VLA, VMD and core DEFRA total 
			   Number 
			 2007 439 
			 2008 424 
			 2009 464 
			 2010 440 
			 2011 408

Written Questions: Government Responses

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she plans to respond to question  (a) 35577,  (b) 35579 and  (c) 35576 tabled on 19 January 2011 for answer on 24 January 2011.

James Paice: I have answered these three questions.

EDUCATION

Academies

Nicola Blackwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what authority will be responsible for  (a) funding academies,  (b) ensuring each academy's compliance with its funding agreement,  (c) providing day-to-day advice to academies on operational matters and  (d) management of the performance of academies.

Nick Gibb: The Young People's Learning Agency (YPLA) is responsible for funding academies, ensuring each academy trust complies with its funding agreement, providing day to day advice to academies on operational matters and management of the educational and financial performance of academies.
	The Education Bill, currently before Parliament, proposes the setting up of the Education Funding Agency which will be responsible for funding academies.

Academies: Finance

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the formula was for the calculation of the funds withdrawn from local authority budgets for functions that academy schools will in future provide for themselves.

Nick Gibb: Our calculations were based on the amounts of local authority central services equivalent grant (LACSEG), which we currently pay to academies that have converted from a maintained school. There are two elements to the grant: the proportion which the Department can recoup from the dedicated schools grant that would otherwise go to local authorities, and the proportion that the Department cannot recoup because it is in respect of services normally paid from other local authority funds. For the latter, on the basis of local authorities' financial statements provided to the Department under section 251 of the Apprenticeships Schools Children and Learning Act 2009, we estimated an average amount per pupil across all local authorities, and applied that to our estimates of the number of new academies opening over the next two years, using average school sizes. The resultant amounts were then reduced to reflect annual reductions in local authorities' formula grant. The final amounts deducted from local authorities' formula grant were £148 million in 2011-12 and £265 million in 2012-13.

Academies: Wigan

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will place in the Library copies of the correspondence between his Department and the Abraham Guest High School in Wigan on the conversion of that school to academy status.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 4 February 2011
	 It is not the practice of the Department to place on record any communications or correspondence related to current discussions around the development of individual academy projects. This would inhibit the free and frank discussions needed to secure school improvement.

Adoption

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many babies under six months old were available for adoption in England and Wales in each year since 1997.

Tim Loughton: Information on children available for adoption has not been collected centrally historically. The Department collects information on children who have been placed for adoption with prospective adopters.
	We have recently begun to collect information on the number of children where the decision has been made that the child should be placed for adoption. This information will provide a complete picture of the number of children available for adoption. However, this data has only been collected for the last two years and there are some concerns over the quality of the data reported that still need to be addressed.
	We can provide figures relating to those placed since 1997. The number of children, aged less than six months old, who were placed for adoption at 31 March 1997 to 2010 is shown in the following table. These figures show information for England only, information for Wales is not collected by the Department. The number of children placed for adoption does not represent all looked after children who are available for adoption as it does not include those children who are waiting to be placed with prospective adopters.
	
		
			  Children looked after at 31 March who were placed for adoption( 1, 2, 3) . Years ending 31 March 1997 to 2010. Coverage: England 
			   Children who were placed for adoption aged less than  six months( 4)  (number) 
			 1997(5) 20 
			 1998(6) 70 
			 1999(6) 40 
			 2000(6) 60 
			 2001(6) 40 
			 2002(6) 40 
			 2003(6) 40 
			 2004(5) 30 
			 2005(5) 30 
			 2006(5) 20 
			 2007(5) 20 
			 2008(5) 10 
			 2009(5) 10 
			 2010(5) 10 
			 (1) Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. (2) Figures exclude children looked after under an agreed series of short term placements. (3) Historical data may differ from older publications. This is mainly due to the implementation of amendments and corrections sent by some local authorities after the publication date of previous materials. (4) Children aged less than 183 days old as at 31 March. (5) Figures are taken from the SSDA903 return which covered all children looked after. (6) Figures are derived from the SSDA903 one third sample survey.  Source: SSDA 903

Children: Asthma

Stephen McPartland: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what regulations govern whether a school may keep an inhaler for use in an emergency by children with asthma.

Nick Gibb: The Medicines Act 1968 defines asthma relief inhalers as prescription only medicines (POMs), for use by people for whom they have been prescribed. This does not allow for schools to carry spare stocks of inhalers for general use.
	Guidance issued by the Department, "Managing Medicines in Schools and Early Years Settings" makes it clear that children with asthma need to have immediate access to their reliever inhalers and advises that spare inhalers labelled for the use of individual children may be kept at school or early years settings, in case a child's ready access inhaler is mislaid or runs out.

Children: Asthma

Stephen McPartland: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will take steps to enable schools to keep shared inhalers for the purposes of treating asthma attacks in those using school premises.

Nick Gibb: Guidance issued by the Department, "Managing Medicines in Schools and Early Years Settings" makes it clear that children with asthma need to have immediate access to their reliever inhalers and advises that spare inhalers labelled for the use of individual children may be kept at school or early years settings, in case a child's ready access inhaler is mislaid or runs out.

Children: Disability

Tristram Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if the Early Intervention Grant will fund support services for families with disabled children including  (a) short breaks (respite),  (b) early support,  (c) key working and  (d) the disabled children's access to childcare programme.

Sarah Teather: The Early Intervention Grant (EIG) is a new funding stream created for local authorities to invest in early intervention for the most vulnerable children, young people and families bringing together funding for a number of early intervention and preventative services. EIG will replace a number of existing funding streams which will come to an end in 2011. Details were announced by the Secretary of State for Education on 13 December 2010.
	EIG will not be ring fenced because we are committed to giving local authorities greater autonomy and flexibility enabling them to use resources in ways that reflect local need, not central Government prescription. It will be for local authorities to determine how they use that resource to best effect, including what services would be funded for families with disabled children, early support and key working. The grant will help local authorities to support vulnerable young people to engage in education and training, intervening early with those who are at risk of disengagement and to support those young people who have a learning difficulty, disability or mental health problem.

Children: Human Trafficking

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children who were considered to have been trafficked have gone missing from local authority care in the last year.

Tim Loughton: We do not collect data centrally on the number of looked after children who may have been trafficked into the country and who have gone missing from care.

Class Sizes

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the average teacher-pupil ratio is in  (a) primary,  (b) secondary,  (c) special and  (d) all schools in (i) England and (ii) London.

Nick Gibb: The following table provides the pupil:teacher ratio in local authority maintained nursery, primary, secondary and special schools in London and England, January 2010.
	
		
			  Pupil:teacher ratios( 1)  in local authority maintained nursery, primary, secondary and special schools, coverage: London and England 
			  Years: January 2010 
			   London  England 
			  Nursery schools   
			 PTR within-schools(2) 15.5 16.2 
			
			  Primary schools   
			 PTR within-schools(2) 21.2 21.3 
			
			  Secondary schools   
			 PTR within-schools(2) 15.1 15.7 
			
			  Overall   
			 Overall PTR(3) 16.3 16.6 
			
			  Special schools( 4)   
			 PTR within-schools(2) 5.6 6.1 
			 (1) For statistical purposes only, pupils who do not attend both morning and afternoon at least five days a week are regarded as part-time. Each part-time pupil is treated as 0.5 FTE. (2) The within-school PTR is calculated by dividing the total FTE number of pupils on roll in schools by the total FTE number of qualified teachers regularly employed in schools. (3) The overall PTR is based on the total FTE number of pupils on roll in local authority maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools and the FTE of all teachers in these schools (including: centrally employed; occasional teachers; those on employment based routes to QTS; others without QTS, those on paid absence and any replacements). The teacher numbers are from the 618g survey. (4) Special schools are not included within the overall PTR.  Source: School Census and School Work force Census and618gsurvey (overall teachers)

Departmental Carbon Emissions

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much his Department and its predecessors spent on carbon offsetting in each of the last three years; and to which companies payments for carbon offsetting were made in each such year.

Tim Loughton: The former Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has paid the following into the Government Carbon Offsetting Fund phase 1 (GCOF1) for offsetting domestic and ministerial air travel to Trading Emissions plc:
	April 2007 to March 2008-£4,635
	April 2008 to March 2009-£3,965
	April 2009 to March 2010-£2,207
	Each payment was made in the financial year following the year in which emissions were incurred and to which the offsets therefore relate.

Discretionary Learner Support Fund

Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make it his policy to ensure that contributions towards transport costs for those aged under 18 are a permissible use of the Discretionary Learner Support Fund for colleges with rural catchment areas.

Nick Gibb: We are considering the replacement for the EMA, including how the funds should be allocated to ensure that support is targeted on those children who most need support to allow them to continue in education.
	Local authorities have a statutory responsibility for making the necessary arrangements for transport to enable 16 to 18-year-olds (and 19 to 25-year-olds with a learning difficulty and/or disability) to attend education and training.

Discretionary Learner Support Fund: Greater London

Glenda Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when schools and further education colleges will be informed of their allocation of discretionary learner support in the  (a) London Borough of Camden and  (b) London Borough of Brent.

Nick Gibb: We are considering the replacement for the EMA, including how the funds should be allocated to ensure that support is targeted on those children who most need it to allow them to continue in education. We plan to announce the allocations for the new funds in the spring.

Duchy of Cornwall: Children's Rights Bill [HL]

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what consultation his Department had with the Duchy of Cornwall on the provisions of the Children's Rights Bill [Lords]; and what action he took as a result.

Sarah Teather: The Queen's consent is required if a Bill affects the prerogative of the Crown or the interests of the Crown, the Duchy of Lancaster or the Duchy of Cornwall. In the case of the Duchy of Cornwall, the Prince of Wales's consent must also be obtained. We can confirm that the Department did consult the Duchy of Cornwall in relation to the Children's Rights Bill but we do not disclose the contents of correspondence with members of the Royal Family or the Royal Household.

Early Intervention Fund

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which grants to local authorities have been aggregated into the Early Intervention Fund; what the monetary value of each of these grants was in 2010-11; and what funding has been provided for the Early Invervention Fund in 2011-12.

Sarah Teather: The Early Intervention Grant is a new un-ring-fenced and un-hypothecated funding stream that gives local authorities greater flexibility to target resources strategically and intervene early to improve outcomes for children, young people and families.
	A number of existing centrally-directed grants to support services for children, young people and families are ending and are replaced by the Early Intervention Grant. The amounts of those grants for 2010-11 are listed in Table 1. This is a major reform and gives local authorities greater freedom to respond to local needs and target resources where they will have the greatest impact. The overall Early Intervention Grant is £2,222,555,697 in 2011-12 and £2,307,196,996 in 2012-13. Further information is available at
	http://www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/earlylearningandchildcare/a0070357/early-intervention-grant-frequently-asked-questions/
	
		
			  Table 1 
			  Grant name  2010-11 allocation (£ million) 
			 Sure Start Children's Centres 1,135.148 
			 Early Years Sustainability-including funding for sufficiency and access, quality and inclusion, buddying, holiday child care and disabled access to childcare' 238.044 
			 Early Years Workforce-quality and inclusion, graduate leader fund and every child a talker 195.701 
			 Two Year Old Offer-Early Learning and Childcare 66.744 
			 Disabled Children Short Breaks 184.647 
			 Connexions 466.732 
			 Think Family 94.196 
			 Youth Opportunity Fund 40.752 
			 Youth Crime Action Plan 11.975 
			 Challenge and Support 3.900 
			 Children's Fund 131.804 
			 Positive Activities for Young People Programme 94.500 
			 Youth Taskforce 4.344 
			 Young People Substance Misuse 7.002 
			 Teenage Pregnancy 27.500 
			 Key Stage 4 Foundation Learning 19.882 
			 Targeted Mental Health in Schools Grant 27.818 
			 ContactPoint 15.000 
			 Children's Social Care Workforce 18.156 
			 Intensive Intervention Grant 2.800 
			 January Guarantee 6.000 
			 Child Trust Fund 1.325 
			 DfE Emergency Budget Reduction -311.000 
			 Total grants 2,482.982

Education

Helen Grant: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what his policy is on the compulsory teaching of  (a) drama,  (b) music,  (c) art and  (d) information technology in schools.

Nick Gibb: Music, art and design and information and communication technology (ICT) are currently subjects within the national curriculum in England and compulsory for all pupils in maintained schools at Key Stages 1 to 3, and in the case of ICT also at Key Stage 4. Drama does not have separate subject status within the national curriculum but is an element of the Programme of Study for English.
	We are currently reviewing the national curriculum with a view to focusing it on the essential body of knowledge in key subjects which all children need to learn in order to succeed in education and in life, and to give teachers greater freedom beyond that core to design and teach a curriculum which best meets the needs of their pupils. We intend that English, mathematics, science and physical education will continue to be compulsory subjects within the national curriculum at Key Stages 1 to 4 in future. The review will determine which other subjects will remain compulsory, and at which key stages.

Education Maintenance Allowance

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the replacement for education maintenance allowance over the Comprehensive Spending Review period.

Nick Gibb: Details of the costs of the financial support that will replace the education maintenance allowance (EMA) from September 2011 will be announced shortly. The new fund will be designed to target support more sharply to those students facing the greatest financial barriers to participation.

Educational Psychology

Nicola Blackwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what guidance his Department provides to local authorities in respect of educational psychologists.

Sarah Teather: The Department provides a range of guidance documents that have a bearing on the work of educational psychologists, the main one being the special educational needs (SEN) code of practice. This provides statutory guidance to local authorities and others to whom the code applies and includes advice on the role of educational psychologists, particularly in relation to statutory assessments of children's SEN. The statutory guidance on promoting the educational achievement of looked-after children (March 2010) and promoting the health and well being of looked-after children (November 2009) are also pertinent to the work of educational psychologists. It is, of course, up to local authorities to deploy educational psychologists as they see fit.

Educational Visits

Simon Hart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what progress his Department has made on reviewing the guidance for the application of the rarely cover rule in relation to school trips and field visits.

Nick Gibb: The Government signalled in their response to last year's Children and Young People's Committee's report, 'Transforming Education Outside the Classroom', that schools should be given greater freedoms to organise themselves to support field trips and other educational visits. Our reforms will ensure that schools have the freedom and flexibilities to organise staff and resources in a way that reflects local priorities and needs. As part of delivering this commitment we are planning to ask the School Teachers' Review Body (STRB) to consider a wide range of issues, including how to address some of the rigidity in the existing pay and conditions' arrangements for teachers.
	We trust schools to make sensible decisions about opportunities for education outside the classroom through forward planning and careful scheduling of these activities. Where this happens, the rarely cover provisions should not prove to be an obstacle to children being taught outside the classroom.

English Baccalaureate: Religion

Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he plans to make a decision on the inclusion of religious education within the English Baccalaureate for the purposes of the 2011 school performance tables.

Nick Gibb: I intend to publish information on all measures to be included in the 2011 performance tables in our annual statement of intent, which will be published at
	www.education.gov.uk/performancetables
	We have not set an exact date for publication, but it will be before the summer break.

Extended Schools

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many and what proportion of schools in each local education authority operate  (a) breakfast and  (b) after-school clubs.

Sarah Teather: The Department does not collect data on the proportion of schools in each local education authority operating  (a) breakfast clubs and  (b) after-school clubs. However data from the Training and Development Agency for Schools indicates that by September 2010, nearly all maintained schools (99%), including Academies and special schools, were offering access to extended services. This included those schools providing access to breakfast clubs and after school activities.
	In addition, the Department's Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents for 2009, (published in 2010) entailed interviews with a sample of just over 6,700 parents with children aged under 15. This found that one-third of the sample of families used a breakfast or after-school club on a school site and 7% used a breakfast or after-school club off-site. Full details can be found at:
	http://publications.education.gov.uk/default.aspx? PageFunction=productdetails&PageMode= publications&Productld=DFE-RR054

Extracurricular Activities

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what research his Department has  (a) commissioned and  (b) evaluated on the effect on participation in out-of-school activities of patterns of (i) television viewing and (ii) internet usage by children of school age.

Sarah Teather: The Department has not commissioned or evaluated any recent research on the effect of TV viewing or internet usage by children on their participation in out-of-school activities. However, the Department's longitudinal survey of young people in England (LSYPE) included a question in 2005 about hours spent watching TV among respondents aged 13/14 (and again at 14/15) and I have asked my statisticians to produce an analysis of the data for the hon. Member. This will be sent to him as soon as it is available. The survey does not include data on internet usage.
	The Department is also aware of recent commercial research publications on TV viewing and internet usage, notably the Childwise Monitor Survey, details at:
	www.childwise.co.uk

Extracurricular Activities

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will assess the effects on  (a) well-being and  (b) educational attainment of children in each socio-economic group of average daily time spent (i) watching television and (ii) using computers; and if he will make a statement.

Sarah Teather: The Department has not commissioned or evaluated any recent research on the effect of TV viewing by children on their well-being or educational attainment. However, the Department's longitudinal survey of young people in England (LSYPE) included a question in 2005 about hours spent watching TV among respondents aged 13/14 (and again at 14/15) and I have asked my statisticians to produce an analysis of the data for the hon. Member. This will be sent to him as soon as it is available.
	The Department commissioned an evaluation of the impact on attainment of children and young people's home use of ICT for educational purposes (Valentine et al, DFES, 2005). The research found that there was a statistically significant positive association between pupils' home use of ICT for educational purposes and improved attainment in mathematics at years 6 and 9, and a modest but more extensive association with attainment in English and mathematics at year 11. Using a home computer for educational purposes at year 2 did not have a statistically significant positive association with pupil attainment.
	The full report can be found at:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrdering Download/RR672.pdf
	However, this research does not examine the impact on well-being or use of ICT for non educational purposes.

Food: Procurement

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will take steps to make schools aware of the Government Buying Standards for the public procurement of food and food services.

Tim Loughton: The School Food Trust and DFE will communicate the government buying standards as best practice for schools to apply when procuring school food and catering services, via website, schools forum, caterer's forum and newsletters.

GCSE: Blackpool

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many pupils in Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency achieved five GCSEs at grades A* to C in 2009-10.

Nick Gibb: The number of pupils attending maintained schools in Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency achieving five or more GCSEs at grades A*-C including equivalents in 2009/10 is as follows:
	
		
			  Number of pupils( 1,2)  achieving five or more A*-C grades at GCSE or equivalent attending maintained schools in Blackpool North and Cleveleys parliamentary constituency, 2009/10 
			  Constituency  Total number of pupils  Number of pupils achieving five or more A*-C grades at GCSE or equivalent  Percentage of pupils achieving five or more A*-C grades at GCSE or equivalent 
			 Blackpool North and Cleveleys 1,017 831 81.7 
			 (1) Pupils at the end of key stage 4. (2) Includes pupils attending all maintained schools including academies, city technology colleges and special schools located in Blackpool North and Cleveleys parliamentary constituency.  Source: National Pupil Database (amended data) 
		
	
	Figures showing the percentage of pupils achieving five or more GCSEs at grades A*-C including equivalents and other indicators for all constituencies in 1996/97 and between 2004/05 and 2009/10 will be available shortly on the Department's In Your Area website at:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/inyourarea/
	and in the House Libraries.

Harnessing Technology Grant

Ann Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he plans to allocate the further instalment of the harnessing technology grant to schools.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 10 February 2011
	The final instalment of the Harnessing Technology Grant was paid on 20 September 2010 and there will be no further instalments.

Latin and Classics: English Baccalaureate

Andrew Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what consideration he has given to the inclusion of GCSE  (a) Latin and  (b) classical civilization in the English Baccalaureate language and humanities component.

Nick Gibb: GCSEs in Latin counted towards the English Baccalaureate measure in the 2010 performance tables.
	In terms of Classical Civilisation, one of the intentions of the English Baccalaureate is to encourage wider take up of geography and history. Classical civilisations was not included in the humanities element of the English Baccalaureate for the 2010 performance tables because the historical element of the course was not considered sufficient. We will however be taking on board comments about the English Baccalaureate measure and reviewing the precise definition of the English Baccalaureate for the 2011 performance tables.

Music: Education

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  when he expects to publish the outcome of the independent review of music education;
	(2)  when he expects the report of the Henley Review of Music Education to be published.

Nick Gibb: The review of music education carried out by Mr Darren Henley was published on 7 February 2011.

National Resource Centre for Supplementary Schools: Finance

Angie Bray: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much funding his Department has allocated to support (a) the National Resource Centre for Supplementary Schools and  (b) supplementary schools in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011 and (iii) 2012.

Nick Gibb: The Department for Education allocated £350,000 to the National Resource Centre for Supplementary Schools in 2009-10. A further £95,000 was allocated in 2010-11 and funding will come to an end in March 2011.
	The Department has not allocated any funding direct to supplementary schools.

Outdoor Education

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he plans to take to improve the provision of fieldwork for school pupils; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: The Government are committed to improving standards and acknowledge the recommendation in Ofsted's report 'Geography, Learning to make a world of Difference', published on 4 February, that schools should maximise opportunities for fieldwork to enhance teaching and improve motivation.
	The value of fieldwork to the teaching of the sciences was also highlighted in the report 'Outdoor Science' released on 19 January by the Association for Science Education, Outdoor Science Working Group's.
	Our National Curriculum review will look at how we can put a clearer focus on content and the essential knowledge that all children should acquire while leaving heads and teachers free to decide how to teach this most effectively. We would welcome those who support the benefits of fieldwork to engage in the call for evidence at:
	www.education.gov.uk/ncreviewcallforevidence

Pre-school Education

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what representations he has received from representatives of  (a) nurseries and  (b) pre-schools on the adequacy of funding from his Department for the provision of the free entitlement to early education; and if he will make a statement.

Sarah Teather: holding answer 22 November 201 0
	The coalition Government are clear in their support for the provision of free nursery education and that this should be delivered by a diverse range of providers.
	Funding for free nursery education is devolved to local authorities through the Dedicated Schools Grant. It is a matter for local authorities to distribute this funding locally. In July 2010, we announced that every local authority will be expected to introduce the Early Years Single Funding Formula (EYSFF) from April 2011 following successful implementation in more than 70 pathfinder areas this year. The EYSFF is designed to increase transparency and fairness in the way funding is allocated to providers offering free nursery education for three and four-year-olds, by establishing locally driven criteria which are applied on an equitable basis across all providers; including maintained nursery schools, primary schools, private, voluntary and independent providers. The Department encourages providers to engage in a constructive dialogue with local authorities about the level of funding, and the transparency of the EYSFF supports this.
	Many providers up and down the country are offering an outstanding service to parents and their children within existing funding levels. The Government are listening to the views of providers on early years funding; we are keen to work with the sector to reduce administrative burdens on providers.

Pre-school Education

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  how many private pre-school nursery providers have  (a) closed and  (b) opted out of the scheme for free places for three and four year-olds in each local authority in England since September 2010; and how many such places have been lost as a result;
	(2)  what the administrative cost was in the case of each local authority in England for the operation of the free places scheme for three and four year-olds in pre-schools and nurseries in  (a) 2007-08,  (b) 2008-09 and  (c) 2009-10.

Sarah Teather: The Department collects national statistics annually on the take up of free early education for three and four-year-olds. The latest figures show that 95% of three and four-year-olds are benefiting from free provision-an increase of 22,000 three-year-olds and 5,500 four-years-olds, compared with 2009. The Statistical First Release (SFR) 16/2010 "Provision for children under five years of age in England: January 2010" is available at
	www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000935/index.shtml
	The specific information requested on private pre-school nursery providers is not collected centrally.
	Ofsted publish quarterly statistics on numbers of registered childcare providers and places. The statistics are available at national level and by region and local authority for each provider type-child minder, child care on domestic premises and child care on non-domestic premises. The statistics do not separately identify private pre-school nursery providers and do not distinguish between Government funded free places and privately funded places.
	The most recent figures published in January 2011 show that, excluding child minders, the total number of childcare providers fell from 28,664 in September 2010 to 28,588 in December 2010, a decline of 106 (0.4%). This followed a drop in the previous quarter of 162 (0.6%). Excluding child minders the total number of childcare places fell from 1,027,868 in September 2010 to 1,024,757m December 2010, a decline of 3,111 (0.3%), compared to a increase in the previous quarter of 2,376 (0.2%).
	The full statistics are available at
	http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Publications-and-research/Browse-all-by/Documents-by-type/Statistics/Childcare-and-early-years/Childcare-providers-and-places/Registered-childcare-providers-and-places-in-England-December-2008-onwards
	Funding for free early education places for three and four year olds is provided through the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), which supports the majority of education provision for children aged 3-16. Local authorities, in consultation with their Schools Forum, decide how best to distribute funding across their locality, and local authorities set their own local rates of funding to early years providers. The Department does not collect centrally data on the costs incurred by local authorities in administering free early education. Local authorities supply information on expenditure under Section 251 of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009. Information is available at
	http://www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/strategy/financeandfunding/section251

Pre-school Education

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent discussions his Department has had with the Department for Communities and Local Government on support for voluntary and private early years providers for the purposes of increasing diversity of provision in the market.

Sarah Teather: The Department has had a series of discussions with the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) about the provisions of the current Localism Bill. The Bill is intended to increase diversity by giving voluntary and community organisations, and council employees, the right to challenge local authorities to contract out services, such as those delivered by, or through, Sure Start children's centres, if they can do things better, or more cost-effectively.

Pre-school Education: Fees and Charges

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  whether he has undertaken an equality impact assessment in respect of his proposal to allow nurseries to charge for places above the 15 hours provided free of charge;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the effects on levels of child poverty of permitting nursery schools to charge for provision above 15 hours a week.

Sarah Teather: The impact assessment and equality impact assessment for provisions in the Education Bill are available at:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/educationbill
	The Government remain committed to free early education for all three and four-year-olds, and in September increased the level of free provision to 15 hours per week.
	The Childcare Act 2006 gave schools the power, subject to Regulations, to charge for early education in addition to the 15 free hours now provided for three and four-year-olds. The provisions in clause 47 of the Education Bill amend existing legislation governing what costs nursery schools (and schools with nursery classes) can include in determining the charges for additional early education, principally to enable schools to include the costs of permanent teaching staff who provide the early education provision. As such, we do not anticipate that the provisions in the Education Bill will have an impact on levels of child poverty, nor a discriminatory impact. However, by enabling schools to expand their provision, we are giving parents greater choice, in their early education and childcare arrangements, supporting them to work or return to work.
	Financial support is available for parents on lower incomes who need more than 15 hours of childcare because of their working patterns. The child care element of working tax credits can cover up to 70% of child care costs.

Pupils: Body Searches

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the risk of teachers being prosecuted or sued as a result of the implementation of the provisions in the Education Bill on searching pupils.

Nick Gibb: School staff who act in accordance with the law, as drafted in the Bill, will not run any increased risk of being sued or prosecuted. We are not aware of any cases of teachers being prosecuted for using their existing search powers. The new search powers in the Bill are clearer than the existing powers, and will be easier for school staff to follow.

Pupils: Disadvantaged

Ann Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what mechanism will be used to allocate the pupil premium to pupils whose family income makes them eligible for free school meals but who have not applied for them.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 10 February 2011
	The pupil premium for 2011-12 will be allocated to local authorities and schools with pupils that are known to be eligible for free school meals (FSM) as recorded on the January 2011 School Censuses. Each pupil known to be eligible for free school meals will attract £430 of funding which will go to the school or academy via the local authority or YPLA if the pupil is in a mainstream setting or will be managed by the responsible local authority if the pupil is in a non-mainstream setting. We aim to extend the coverage of the pupil premium from 2012-13 onwards to pupils who have previously been known to be eligible for free school meals.
	It is necessary for the parent to apply for free school meals in order that their eligibility can be confirmed. Only then can they be recorded on the School Census, which will generate the payment. This is why the Secretary of State said in the House on 15 November 2010:
	"....In particular, I would encourage all schools to ensure that those children who are eligible for free school meals take up that offer."

Pupils: Languages

Kris Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which local authorities were granted an Exceptional Circumstances Grant owing to the number of children with English as an additional language in each of the last three years.

Nick Gibb: The following table shows the amount of Exceptional Circumstances Grant (ECG) allocated to local authorities in each of the last three years, in relation to increases in the proportion of pupils with English as an Additional Language (EAL). The allocations are based on: (i) an increase in the proportion of pupils of compulsory school age with EAL, as recorded in the autumn school census, of any year between 2008 and 2011, of more than 2.5 percentage points over and above the level recorded in the January 2008 school census; (ii) where the January 2008 proportion of pupils of compulsory school age with EAL is below 10%, but increases by more than 2.5 percentage points during the 2008-2011 spending review period. Where a local authority qualifies under (i) it receives £1,600 for each pupil above the threshold. Where an authority qualifies under (ii) it receives a £200,000 lump sum. No local authority met criteria (ii) in 2008-09 or 2009-10.
	
		
			  Allocations for Exceptional Circumstances Grant (ECG) 2008-11 
			  £000 
			   2008- 09  2009- 10  2010- 11 
			  Local Authority  (i)  (i)  (i)  (ii) 
			 Barking and Dagenham 292 1,881 3,334 0 
			 Bedford Borough 0 0 52 0 
			 Bexley 0 0 137 200 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 29 132 0 0 
			 Bolton 0 0 32 0 
			 Bournemouth 0 0 179 200 
			 Bristol, City of 0 0 484 0 
			 Bury 0 0 42 0 
			 City of London 19 34 36 0 
			 Coventry 0 655 1,159 0 
			 Croydon 0 0 414 0 
			 Derby 0 0 276 0 
			 Ealing 0 281 1,026 0 
			 Enfield 0 115 1,033 0 
			 Greenwich 0 508 1,640 0 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 0 0 19 0 
			 Harrow 0 655 1,533 0 
			 Havering 0 0 93 200 
			 Hillingdon 0 804 1,939 0 
			 Kingston upon Hull 0 0 336 200 
			 Kingston upon Thames 0 0 392 0 
			 Kirklees 0 0 121 0 
			 Leicester 0 0 431 0 
			 Luton 0 62 655 0 
			 Manchester 0 639 322 0 
			 Merton 0 279 873 0 
			 Middlesbrough 0 0 32 0 
			 Milton Keynes 0 0 1,238 0 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 0 0 106 0 
			 Nottingham 0 172 540 0 
			 Oldham 0 305 786 0 
			 Peterborough 113 979 1,554 0 
			 Portsmouth 0 0 82 200 
			 Reading 0 122 571 0 
			 Redbridge 0 243 1,090 0 
			 Sandwell 0 437 621 0 
			 Slough 0 0 1,394 0 
			 Southampton 0 236 308 0 
			 Stoke-on-Trent 0 0 111 0 
			 Sutton 0 412 884 0 
			 Thurrock 0 0 257 200 
			 Tower Hamlets 0 796 1,091 0 
			 Waltham Forest 0 1,049 1,494 0 
			 Wandsworth 0 0 377 0 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead 0 0 89 0 
			 Wokingham 0 0 158 200

Schools: Sports

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much funding will be allocated to schools for a one day release of a teacher under future school sport partnerships.

Tim Loughton: The Department is considering this and will notify schools later this year.

Schools: Voluntary Work

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the number of  (a) people who volunteered and  (b) hours given by volunteers in maintained schools in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Teachers: Disciplinary Proceedings

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  what the average duration was of the suspension of a teacher from a school pending disciplinary action in academic year 2009-10; and how many teachers were subject to such disciplinary action;
	(2)  how many teachers are presently suspended from schools pending the conclusion of disciplinary action;
	(3)  in how many cases of disciplinary action commenced against teachers in academic year 2009-10 proceedings were  (a) withdrawn,  (b) concluded with a finding of no wrongdoing by a teacher and  (c) concluded with a finding of no case to answer.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 28 February 2011
	The operation of disciplinary procedures in schools, including those that result in suspension, is a matter for schools' governing bodies and local authorities in their roles as employers. Accordingly the information requested about the suspension of teaching staff is not held centrally.

Teachers: Pensions

Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  what proportion of active members of the Teachers' Pension Scheme earn  (a) between £10,000 and £15,000,  (b) between £15,000 and £20,000,  (c) between £20,000 and £25,000,  (d) between £25,000 and £30,000 and  (e) £30,000 and more;
	(2)  what proportion of members of the Teachers' Pension Scheme are  (a) (i) part time and (ii) full time,  (b) (A) male and (B) female and  (c) (i) active members and (ii) deferred members/pensioners.
	(3)  what proportion of  (a) active and  (b) deferred members of the Teachers' Pension Scheme are aged between (i) 20 and 30, (ii) 31 and 40, (iii) 41 and 50, (iv) 51 and 55 and (v) 56 and 65.

Nick Gibb: The Department does not hold data in the way requested. The following tables do, however, provide the data the Department does hold and which were provided to the Independent Commission into Public Sector Pensions. Consequently some of the data groupings do not precisely match those requested.
	Calculation of benefits under the Teachers' Pension Scheme is based on a full-time equivalent salary, rather than actual earnings. The tables therefore report salary data on that basis.
	
		
			  Pensionable annual earnings (£)  Active members 
			   Male  Female 
			 0-11,999 148 260 
			 12,000-14,999 339 741 
			 15,000-17,999 1,795 4,689 
			 18,000-20,999 6,085 19,784 
			 21,000-23,999 9,106 25,724 
			 24,000-26,999 13,041 39,051 
			 27,000-29,999 11,467 27,365 
			 30,000-32,999 23,072 78,298 
			 33,000-37,399 31,981 104,823 
			 37,400-39,999 20,054 51,201 
			 40,000-44,999 31,388 50,377 
			 45,000-49,999 15,206 21,367 
			 50,000-74,999 21,741 23,206 
			 75,000-99,999 2,232 1,457 
			 100,000 plus 638 386 
		
	
	
		
			   Active members  Deferred members 
			  Age  Male  Female  Male  Female 
			 0-19 (1)24,082 (1)80,797 (1)5,385 (1)15,270 
			 20-29 (1)- (1)- (1)- (1)- 
			 30-39 48,042 120,502 18,142 55,760 
			 40-49 50,306 111,612 26,446 58,631 
			 50-54 28,721 65,633 17,121 35,879 
			 55-59 28,086 57,754 21,507 45,781 
			 60-64 8,400 11,653 11,154 20,299 
			 65-69 634 738 6,468 14,314 
			 (1) Indicates a brace. 
		
	
	
		
			  Active member  Female  Male 
			 Full time 310,319 163,046 
			 Part time 138,410 25,247

Teachers: Pensions

Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the administration costs of the Teachers' Pension Scheme are for 2010-11; and what the costs were in each of the last 12 years.

Nick Gibb: Following a competitive tendering exercise, a seven-year contract for the administration of the Teachers' Pension Scheme was let in 1996. The contract value was £70 million. The administrative service was re-tendered at the end of the first contract period and a new seven-year contract was let in October 2003. The total expenditure on the administration of the scheme between the financial years 2003-04 and 2009-10 was £65 million, as noted below. The expenditure in 2010-11 is anticipated to be £9.8 million.
	
		
			  Financial year  Contract costs (£ million) 
			 2003-04 8.9 
			 2004-05 8.6 
			 2005-06 9.0 
			 2006-07 9.4 
			 2007-08 9.5 
			 2008-09 9.9 
			 2009-10 9.6

Young People: Unemployment

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many young people normally resident in Coventry South constituency were not in education, employment or training on the most recent date for which figures are available.

Nick Gibb: Estimates of participation in education, training and employment for young people aged 16 to 18 are published by the Department in a Statistical First Release (SFR) each June and can be found on the Department's website at:
	http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000938/index.shtml
	These estimates cannot be broken down to local authority level. However, Connexions Services collect information on the proportion of 16 to 18-year-olds who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) in each local authority area in England. These are published annually on the DFE website and the latest data for the end of 2009 are at:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/16to19/participation/neet/a0064101/strategies-for-16-to-18-year-olds-not-in-education-employment-or-training-neet
	These data estimate that 740 (6.9%) 16 to 18-year-olds were not in education, employment or training in Coventry at the end of 2009. The figures cannot be broken down by Parliamentary constituency.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Affordable Housing: Construction

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many affordable housing units he expects to be completed in the London Borough of Newham in  (a) 2010-11 and  (b) 2011-12.

Grant Shapps: The latest official statistics on new affordable homes delivered in the first six months of 2010-11 by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) are published at:
	http://www.homesandcommunities.co.uk/statistics
	The Department does not forecast levels of future house building, and delivery will be determined by local housing plans. In the spending review we announced investment of over £6.5 billion in housing. This includes over £2 billion to make existing social homes decent and almost £4.5 billion investment in new affordable housing to deliver up to 150,000 affordable homes. We are giving housing associations much more flexibility on rents and use of assets, so our aspiration is to deliver as many homes as possible through our investment and reforms. DCLG and the HCA issued the Framework for the Affordable Homes Programme from 2011 to 2015, including the affordable rent product, on14 February 2011.
	The New Homes Bonus final scheme design was published on 17 February. Commencing in April 2011, the bonus will provide additional financial incentives for providing more affordable homes by match funding the additional council tax raised for new homes and properties brought back into use, with a premium for affordable homes, for the following six years. We have set aside almost £1 billion over the comprehensive spending review period for the scheme.

Government Procurement Card Scheme

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which local authorities participate in the Government Procurement Card scheme.

Francis Maude: I have been asked to reply.
	A list of local authorities who participated in the Government Procurement Card scheme for the year 2010 has been placed in the Library.

Homelessness: Newham

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many households presented themselves as homeless to the London Borough of Newham in  (a) 2009,  (b) 2010 and  (c) 2011.

Grant Shapps: The following table shows the total number of decisions made by the London borough of Newham in 2009 and 2010 on applications from households eligible for assistance under the homelessness provisions of the 1985 and 1996 Housing Acts. This includes all eligible households found to be in priority need and unintentionally homeless (acceptances); those in priority need but intentionally homeless; those not in priority need and those found to be not homeless.
	
		
			  Total number of decisions made by the London borough of Newham under the 1985 and 1996 Housing Act on applications from eligible households, 2009 Q1 to 2010 Q4 
			  Quarter  Total decisions 
			  2009  
			 January to March 112 
			 April to June 118 
			 July to September 159 
			 October to December 150 
			   
			  2010  
			 January to March 151 
			 April to June 158 
			 July to September 129 
			 October to December 163 
			  Source: Quarterly P1E returns 
		
	
	Information about English local housing authorities' actions under the homelessness legislation (part 7 of the Housing Act 1996) is collected quarterly at local authority level. Data are published in the quarterly Statistical Release on Statutory Homelessness, available in the House of Commons Library or via the DCLG website at:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingresearch/housingstatistics/housingstatisticsby/homelessnessstatistics/publicationshomelessness/

Housing: Construction

Daniel Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his policy is on measures to protect grade 2 agricultural land from residential development.

Bob Neill: We have announced a review of planning policy, designed to streamline existing policy statements into a single consolidated National Planning Policy Framework. We will look at the requirements relating to the protection of agricultural land as part of this process. We are considering the responses received to our invitation for suggestions on the priorities and policies we might adopt to produce a shorter, more decentralised and less bureaucratic National Planning Policy Framework, with a view to going out to consultation on a draft of the framework later in the summer.
	The coalition agreement states that the Government will maintain the green belt, Sites of Special Scientific Interest and other environmental protections, and also create a new designation to protect green areas of particular importance to local communities.

Local Government Finance

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent assessment he has made of the likely effects of his Department's plans for local authority funding on private sector companies which hold contracts with the public sector.

Bob Neill: It is for local authorities to decide on commissioning and paying private sector companies, but we would expect councils to look for service providers who can offer high quality services at best value for the taxpayer-and that that this will include commissioning services from the private sector and the voluntary and community sector.
	As part of the Government's transparency agenda, local authorities are now expected to publish information on all new tenders and contracts over £500. This, together with the £500 spend information that local authorities are now publishing, will allow people to see local authority contract spending with private sector companies and the voluntary and community sector.

Local Government Funding

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much funding Faithwise Ltd has received from his Department's Prevent funding allocation to local authorities since the programme's inception.

Andrew Stunell: From 2008 onwards, the Department funded local authorities to undertake Prevent work. This was funded by Area Based Grant which was not ring-fenced. The last Government did not require local authorities to inform Government Departments of their local funding decisions on Prevent.
	We note the criticism of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee in March 2010 over the monitoring and evaluation of the Prevent programme.
	My Department is currently developing a new approach to promote integration and participation.

Planning

Kwasi Kwarteng: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what mechanism he proposes for the resolution of a dispute over a planning issue between a county council and a borough council under his legislative proposals for the planning system.

Bob Neill: All local authorities are statutory consultees for planning decisions so county councils must consult district or neighbouring councils affected by minerals or waste planning decisions. Similarly, district or national park authorities must consult counties where they are affected by other planning decisions. In addition the Localism Bill includes a duty to cooperate when drawing up local plans which will apply to all local authorities.

Regeneration: Newcastle upon Tyne

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 16 February 2011,  Official Report, column 835W, and of 10 November 2010,  Official Report, column 355W, on regeneration: Newcastle upon Tyne, what recent progress he has made in his meetings on delivering a sustainable long-term future for the Byker estate.

Grant Shapps: 1 am pleased to be able to support Newcastle city council's proposals to transfer the Byker estate to a tenant-led housing trust with the aim of delivering a sustainable long-term future for the estate. I would also like to commend the local residents who have campaigned tirelessly for the control of their neighbourhood.

PRIME MINISTER

Government Departments: Business Plans

Stella Creasy: To ask the Prime Minister which Secretaries of State he has met to discuss  (a) implementation of the departmental business plans and  (b) instances when actions stated in such plans as due for completion have not been completed by the due date since November 2010; and on what date each such meeting took place.

David Cameron: I have regular meetings with Secretaries of State to discuss progress including the implementation of areas in the departmental business plans. Updates are published on a monthly basis and can be found on the No. 10 website at:
	http://transparency.number10.gov.uk/

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Departmental Food

William Bain: To ask the Attorney-General if he will estimate the proportion of the seafood procured for the Law Officers' Departments that  (a) was on the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to avoid and  (b) complied with sustainability standards indicated by inclusion in either the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to eat or by the list of fish species certified by the Marine Stewardship Council in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2011 to date.

Edward Garnier: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Treasury Solicitors department are the only Law Officers Departments which provide catering services to staff. Neither department sources or procures food directly. This task is undertaken by contracted catering service providers.
	The caterers used by TSol have confirmed their commitment of working only with suppliers that focus on sustainable fishing practices and promote the consumption of seasonal and sustainable fish resources. It is not possible to confirm purchasing practice regarding the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) list, but there have no recorded instances of species cited as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list having been purchased.
	The CPS service provider operates a policy of not using seafood that is on the MCS list of fish to avoid whenever an alternative product can be sourced. In 2010 only 1.75% of the seafood purchased on behalf of the CPS was on the MCS's list of fish to avoid. The figure for 2011 was 2.25% as of 28 February 2011.
	Information is not recorded on the proportion of seafood purchased for CPS that complied with sustainability standards indicated by inclusion in either the MCS's list of fish to eat or by the list of fish species certified by the Marine Stewardship Council.

Departmental Regulation

Gordon Banks: To ask the Attorney-General what regulations the Law Officers' Departments revoked between 1 February 2011 and 28 February 2011.

Edward Garnier: None.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Government Departments: Business Plans

Stella Creasy: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which Secretaries of State he has met to discuss  (a) implementation of the departmental business plans and  (b) instances when actions stated in such plans as due for completion have not been completed by the due date since November 2010; and on what date each such meeting took place.

Nicholas Clegg: I have frequent meetings with Secretaries of States to discuss progress including the implementation of areas in the departmental business plan. I am also, with the Prime Minister, briefed regularly by the Chief Secretary and/or the Minister for Government Policy on policy implementation.

DEFENCE

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 1 February 2011,  Official Report, column 728W, on Afghanistan: peacekeeping operations, what discussions he has had with representatives of the International Committee for the Red Cross in Afghanistan on the recording of civilian deaths and injuries in Afghanistan as a result of  (a) ISAF and  (b) Taliban operations; and if he will make a statement.

Liam Fox: The Ministry of Defence has regular meetings with the International Committee of the Red Cross to discuss operations in Afghanistan. We respect the confidentiality of these discussions.

Aircraft Carriers

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to take a decision on which aircraft carrier to fit with cats and traps.

Peter Luff: Our investigations into the conversion of the Queen Elizabeth class are ongoing. We currently expect to take firm decisions on which carrier should be converted, the launch and recovery equipment to be fitted, and the overall conversion strategy in late 2012.

Armed Forces: Redundancy

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 15 February 2011,  Official Report, columns 815-22W, on armed forces (redundancies), to which Minister in his Department the section which was responsible for sending the 38 emails reports.

Liam Fox: holding answer 28 February 2011
	 As Secretary of State I have ultimate responsibility for the Ministry of Defence.

Armed Forces: Redundancy

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether armed forces personnel on maternity leave are exempt from redundancy.

Andrew Robathan: Those who volunteer for redundancy while on or due to go on maternity leave will be considered alongside all other volunteers and maternity leave will not prevent their selection. Non-volunteers who are selected for compulsory redundancy will be given 12 months' notice of discharge. Any non-volunteer who will be on maternity leave at the expected date of discharge will be re-considered on a case-by-case basis, as legal protection may apply. Current or previous maternity leave will not be a selection criterion.

Armed Forces: Redundancy

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what categories of personnel in  (a) the Army,  (b) the Royal Navy and  (c) the Royal Air Force are to be exempt from consideration for redundancy under his Department's redundancy programme.

Andrew Robathan: Those engaged in combat operations for which they are in receipt of operational allowance, are within six months of deploying on or are recovering from those operations, for example on post-operational leave, rest and recuperation, or those recovering from injuries, on the day when the redundancy notices are issued will not be made redundant unless they have volunteered for redundancy.
	Each of the services may define selection criteria based upon their own needs but these would not be considered as exemptions.

Defence Vetting Agency: Manpower

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the potential savings resulting from reductions in personnel numbers at the Defence Vetting Agency in  (a) 2011-12,  (b) 2012-13,  (c) 2013-14 and  (d) 2014-15.

Andrew Robathan: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 27 January 2011,  Official Report, column 477W, to the hon. Member for York Central (Hugh Bayley). In line with other areas of the Ministry of Defence (MOD), the Defence Vetting Agency (DVA) is currently examining what reductions can sensibly be made as a result of the strategic defence and security review and the spending review. The outcomes of the both of these are being developed through the MOD's annual planning round. This is expected to conclude in spring 2011. The final decisions on funding for the DVA will ensure that MOD can continue to provide an effective level of security vetting for its staff and contractors.

Departmental Assets

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what steps he plans to take to maximise revenue to the public purse from future sales of parts of his Department's estate;
	(2)  what plans he has for sale of land and assets of his Department's estate occupied by each of the armed forces; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Robathan: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) keeps its estate under constant review to meet present and planned future requirements. Surplus assets are disposed of as quickly as possible in accordance with Treasury Guidelines (Managing Public Money Annex 4.8). Each of the armed forces is currently identifying estate rationalisation opportunities reflecting the Strategic Defence and Security Review and the outcome will be known later this year.
	Assuming there is no interest from other Government Departments or former owners, surplus MOD land and property is usually advertised for sale by open competition to achieve the best price (i.e. market value). Development potential of surplus land is first considered in consultation with the local planning authority and other stakeholders.

Departmental Food

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will estimate the proportion of the seafood procured for  (a) his Department,  (b) its agencies and  (c) the non-departmental public bodies for which he is responsible that (i) was on the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to avoid and (ii) complied with sustainability standards indicated by inclusion in either the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to eat or by the list of fish species certified by the Marine Stewardship Council in (A) 2010 and (B) 2011 to date.

Peter Luff: There is no business requirement to centrally hold details about the quantity of seafood procured by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), its agencies and non-departmental public bodies and this could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, the MOD's policy is to purchase only seafood from sustainable sources and our fish suppliers must comply with the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to eat, those certified by the Marine Stewardship Council or from stocks that meet the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation's Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.

European Fighter Aircraft

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects the Typhoon aircraft to achieve full ground attack capability.

Peter Luff: Typhoon ground attack capability was achieved for the Tranche One aircraft in July 2008. A programme to integrate ground attack capability onto Tranches Two and Three aircraft from 2012 is also under way. Further weapon upgrades are under consideration to enable Typhoon to employ a greater variety of air-to-ground munitions in future.

European Fighter Aircraft

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many times cannibalisations of Typhoon aircraft occurred due to a parts supply shortage arising from a collaborative arrangement with partner nations in each of the last four years.

Peter Luff: Provision of parts for Typhoon is managed through a range of international and national supply chain contracts.
	Cannibalisation is where one aircraft benefits from the removal of serviceable parts from another. It is a routine and temporary measure to ensure that the maximum number of aircraft is available for front-line duty. No record is made of the reason the part cannibalised was not available.

Harrier Aircraft

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with the US Government on the sale of Harrier jets; and if he will estimate the per unit value of such aircraft.

Peter Luff: The Secretary of State for Defence has had no discussions with the US Government about the future of the Harrier aircraft. It is too early to say what the final disposal arrangements will be or to provide an indication of the unit value of the aircraft.

RFA Largs Bay

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with the government of  (a) Australia and  (b) Chile on the purchase by those countries of RFA Largs Bay.

Peter Luff: During his visit to Australia in January 2011, the Secretary of State for Defence, the right hon. Member for North Somerset (Dr Fox), discussed the future of RFA Largs Bay with his Australian counterpart during discussions that covered a number of defence related matters. In addition, officials from a number of governments, including Australia and Chile, recently visited the ship as part of an ongoing competition being carried out to offer RFA Largs Bay to another government.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Bankruptcy: Suffolk

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many people have been declared bankrupt in Suffolk in each year since 1997.

Edward Davey: The number of bankruptcies in Suffolk for each year 2000-09 is shown in the following table.
	Figures prior to 2000 are not available on this basis. Regional insolvency figures are compiled annually, therefore data for 2010 will not be available until summer 2011.
	
		
			  Bankruptcies in Suffolk( 1) 
			   Number 
			 2000 280 
			 2001 341 
			 2002 377 
			 2003 473 
			 2004 539 
			 2005 677 
			   
			 2006 938 
			 2007 940 
			 2008 1,042 
			 2009 1,087 
			 (1) Where bankrupt has provided a valid postcode (from 87.6% in 2000 rising to 97.1% in 2009).

Business: Government Assistance

Richard Harrington: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the monetary value is of guarantees  (a) applied for and  (b) granted under the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme since October 2010.

Mark Prisk: Under the Enterprise Finance Guarantee, as of 2 March 2011, over 13,800 businesses have been offered loans with a value of almost £1.4 billion. Of which over 12,000 businesses have drawn down loans totalling £1.2 billion.
	The Department plays no role in the application or decision making process. Businesses may apply for a loan from any one of the accredited participating lenders who will assess which form of lending, including an Enterprise Finance Guarantee backed loan, is appropriate. We do not hold figures for those businesses which are instead offered a normal commercial loan, or are rejected for failing to meet the lender's commercial criteria.
	A Government Guarantee of up to 75% of the outstanding balance of the loan is payable to the lender in the event that a business defaults on their loan repayments.

Community Interest Companies

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many community interest companies were registered in each region in each of the last 10 years.

Edward Davey: The community interest companies (CICs) were introduced in 2005, the following table covers from this period only.
	The Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies holds information on the net increase to the public register each year, i.e. after dissolutions and conversions to charities have been taken out and the table reflects this.
	
		
			  Regions  2005/ 06  20 06/07  20 07/08  20 08/09  20 09/10  2010 /11  Total 
			 East of England 11 65 60 83 82 86 387 
			 East Midlands 10 46 56 56 33 68 269 
			 London 47 97 142 199 117 115 717 
			 North East 21 69 76 66 61 88 381 
			 North West 13 77 90 162 165 212 719 
			 South East 31 96 99 123 111 173 633 
			 South West 23 80 71 105 99 160 538 
			 West Midlands 13 34 60 104 114 167 492 
			 Yorkshire 22 37 56 69 37 57 278 
			 Northern Ireland - - 3 14 16 24 57 
			 Scotland 9 20 40 28 54 51 202 
			 Wales 8 16 23 25 28 27 127 
			 Totals 208 637 776 1034 917 1228 4800 
			  Note: This information is correct as at 28 February 2011

Departmental Food

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when he expects his Department to meet the Government's commitment to source food that meets British or equivalent standards of production.

Edward Davey: The Department adheres wherever possible to the five key objectives of the Public Sector Food Procurement Initiative (PSFPI) and the Department will comply with any additional standards to improve the sustainability of food procurement.
	The Department's contracted catering and conference supplier Baxterstorey are accredited to the Red Tractor Farm Assurance Scheme and are fully compliant, demonstrating robust support for enhanced animal welfare, environmental responsibility, quality produce and supporting British producers. All eggs used on the departmental estate are British, Lion Brand standard and free range.

Employment Schemes

Teresa Pearce: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  what criteria will be used to determine whether successful employment has been secured as a result of education or training under the job outcome payment scheme;
	(2)  what his estimate is of the number of learners who will participate in the job outcome scheme pilots in the academic year 2011-12;
	(3)  whether learners referred to further education colleges as part of the skills conditionality scheme will be included in the assessment of the job outcome payment scheme pilots in the academic year 2011-12.

John Hayes: As set out in "Investing in Skills for Sustainable Growth"(1) on 16 November 2010 the total Skills Funding Agency programme budget will be £3.4 billion in 2011-12 financial year.
	(1) Note :
	http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/further-education-skills/docs/s/10-1272-strategy-investing-in-skills-for-sustainable-growth.pdf
	As a part of the spending review tough decisions about departmental budgets have been taken and, like all other areas further education has made its contribution. We have had some difficult choices but we will prioritise funding support for learners with very low levels of skills and unemployed people actively seeking work who are recipients of jobseeker's allowance (JSA) or employment support allowance (work related activity group; ESA (WRAG)) so that we can prepare them for work.
	It is not for us to attempt to plan the delivery of further education and skills from the top down. Instead our simplification agenda will give colleges and training organisations the freedoms and flexibilities to respond to local need, giving JobCentre Plus and employers a key role in shaping the volume and content of further education and skills provision. We expect that the availability of fee remission for those on JSA or ESA (WRAG) will make them an attractive client group for colleges and training organisations. In addition we are piloting an approach to give colleges and training organisations a financial incentive for helping learners who are unemployed through the piloting of new job outcome payments for further education colleges and training organisations.
	We do not hold data relating to the questions you have asked about the Job Outcome Incentive pilots that will operate in the academic year 2011/12 centrally and so I have asked the chief executive of the Skills Funding Agency to write to the hon. Member to provide the details already agreed regarding the operation of the pilots.
	 Letter from Geoff Russell, dated 7 March 2011:
	Thank you for your parliamentary questions addressed to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills in which you asked:
	1. What criteria will be used to determine whether successful employment has been secured as a result of education or training under the job outcome payment scheme (PQ 2010/4320);
	2. What his estimate is of the number of learners who will participate in the job outcome scheme pilots in the academic year 2011-12 (PQ 2010/4321); and
	3. Whether learners referred to further education colleges as part of the skills conditionality scheme will be included in the assessment of the job outcome payment scheme pilots in academic year 2011-12 (PQ 2010/4323)
	Please be advised job outcome incentive payments will be piloted in the 2011/12 academic year as previously announced. The specific arrangements for how the payments will operate are still to be finally agreed. We expect the agreed process to reflect overall performance at provider level, in the context of local labour market conditions, rather than at the level of the individual learner. We will look to reward colleges and independent training providers for the work they undertake to help move individuals claiming Jobseeker's Allowance and the Employment and Support Allowance (those who fall in the work-ready activity group) into employment. This will include learners who are referred under the skills conditionality regulations.

English Language: Education

Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will assess the effects of reductions in funding for courses in English as a second or other language on community cohesion in Liverpool.

John Hayes: As part of the spending review tough decisions about departmental budgets have been taken and, like all other areas, further education has made its contribution. This has included reviewing the extent to which automatic fee remission for adult skills is provided, and in this context we have prioritised English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) funding to unemployed people in receipt of jobseeker's allowance or in the employment and support allowance (work-related activity) group, where English language skills have been identified as a barrier to entering employment. We will continue to pay 50% of ESOL course fees for people who are settled here. Increased freedoms and flexibilities for providers will allow them to respond to the needs of their communities and determine within their funding where this is prioritised.
	The Equality Impact Assessment published alongside Skills for Sustainable Growth (November 2010) found that, at the aggregate level, there are unlikely to be disproportionate impacts on protected groups. A separate assessment of how the changes may affect ESOL learners is currently being carried out by this Department. I expect to be able to publish the assessment in due course.

Export Credits Guarantees: Democratic Republic of Congo

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether the Export Credits Guarantee Department has received any applications for guarantees in respect of explorations in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the last 12 months.

Edward Davey: The Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) has not received any applications for support of export transactions to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the last five years. ECGD is not able to offer any cover for this market.

Export Credits Guarantees: Democratic Republic of Congo

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether the Export Credits Guarantee Department has given guarantees to UK companies in respect of oil exploration in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the last 12 months.

Edward Davey: The Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) has not supported any exports to the Democratic Republic of Congo in the last 20 years. ECGD is not able to offer any cover for this market.

Export Credits Guarantee Department

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills in what paragraphs of the Trade White Paper the role of the Export Credits Guarantee Department in development is addressed.

Stephen O'Brien: I have been asked to reply.
	The White Paper on Trade and Investment for Growth did not explicitly address the role of the Exports Credit Guarantee Department (ECGD) in development, ECGD pilot schemes announced in the White Paper largely focus on supporting Small and Medium Enterprises in the UK. DFID will continue to fully engage with the ECGD by providing case-by-case assessments of these and ongoing ECGD transactions where they relate to the poorest countries. This practice is in line with Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) guidelines and ensures that ECGD-backed lending supports the financial future and long-term prospects of developing countries.

Gulf Region

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills which officials of his Department accompanied the Prime Minister on his recent visit to the Gulf region.

Mark Prisk: A press officer and three other UK Trade and Investment officials accompanied the Prime Minister, my noble Friend the Minister of State for Trade and Investment (Lord Green) and the business delegation on the recent visit to the Gulf region.

Public Sector: Homeworking

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what his policy is on encouraging telecommuting in the public sector; and if he will make a statement.

Francis Maude: I have been asked to reply.
	Telecommuting is one form of flexible working, which is a delegated matter across the public sector. Government Departments and individual organisations that make up the public sector have responsibility for developing their own approaches to telecommuting as part of their flexible working policies.
	Cabinet Office supports measures to improve work/life balance, which include flexible working. Flexible working incorporates a wide variety of working patterns and other arrangements such as home working. Where appropriate, the Department supports those working away from the office with Information Communications Technology to facilitate flexible working arrangements.
	More widely, the Government are committed to offering flexible working options, including telecommuting where appropriate, to its employees. In addition, the coalition agreement outlines a commitment to extend the right to request flexible working to all employees which is being taken forward by the Minister for Employment Relations, Consumer and Postal Services, and has my support.

Royal Mail

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent representations he has received on the decision by Royal Mail to introduce an annual charge for customers of its collect service.

Edward Davey: I have received no representations. Pricing structures of unregulated services are a matter for Royal Mail.

Royal Mail

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent discussions he has had with Royal Mail on its decision to introduce an annual charge to customers using its collect service.

Edward Davey: I have not discussed this issue with Royal Mail. Pricing structures of unregulated services are a matter for Royal Mail.

Royal Mail

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent discussions he has had with groups representing small businesses on the decision of Royal Mail to introduce an annual charge for customers using its collect service.

Edward Davey: I have received no representations nor held any discussions with groups representing small businesses on this issue. Pricing structures of unregulated services are a matter for Royal Mail.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Bahrain: British Nationals Abroad

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department is taking to ensure the safety of UK nationals in Bahrain.

Alistair Burt: The safety and security of UK nationals overseas is paramount. Our embassy in Bahrain is closely monitoring the security situation in that country, including how it might affect the safety of UK nationals. This situation is reflected in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office travel advice for Bahrain.
	Updates are provided regularly to UK nationals in the country via the embassy webpage, Facebook site and Locate registration system. An advertisement has been placed in local English newspapers to encourage UK nationals to use these channels.
	We also regularly review our contingency planning so it is as ready as possible to respond should a crisis escalate.

BBC World Service: Middle East and North Africa

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the work of the BBC World Service in supporting his Department's objectives in  (a) Egypt,  (b) Tunisia,  (c) Yemen and  (d) Jordan.

Jeremy Browne: holding answer 28 February 2011
	The BBC World Service has editorial independence, but, as the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague) has said, they:
	"play an invaluable role promoting British values overseas, reaching millions of people in the process. Their work helps maintain our country's reputation for openness, transparency and liberty...".
	The BBC World Service has provided in-depth and balanced reporting of the events in the region, and has reported that there has been a large increase in their audiences for BBC Arabic. For example, their streamed TV coverage on the BBC Arabic website has had a 60% increase in viewing figures. Their network of reporters and stringers has been feeding coverage in Arabic and English.
	We do not undertake assessments on a permanent and on-going basis of the effectiveness of the BBC's World Service in these countries. The next opportunity to do so will therefore be in our annual survey of heads of mission on the impact and effectiveness of the World Service in the countries to which they are accredited.

Departmental Manpower

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of his Department's full-time equivalent headcount working in each multilateral organisation in  (a) 2009-10,  (b) 2010-11 and  (c) 2011-12.

William Hague: Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) staff taking up attachments with multilateral organisations do so on unpaid leave terms. Since they are not counted as FCO employees while on these secondments, we do not keep central records of their locations. Details of who has been seconded and to which organisation are not held centrally and to obtain them would incur disproportionate cost.

Diplomatic Relations

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the practice of his Department is in issuing  (a) multiple identities and  (b) false passports to members of diplomatic missions; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to the House on 7 March 2011,  Official Report, columns 643-645.

Gaza: Defence Equipment

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received on the firing of an advanced rocket from Gaza into Be-er Shera, Israel on 23 February 2011; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: We are aware of reports that Hamas continues to acquire and test a variety of weapons. We have long made it clear that the arming and funding of Hamas, and other Palestinian Rejectionist Groups, is unacceptable.
	We place great importance on the protection of Israel's legitimate security needs. We continue to underline the need for Hamas to end rocket attacks on Israel. We call on them to take immediate and concrete steps towards the Quartet principles and unconditionally to release Gilad Shalit, who has been held in captivity for over four years.

Iran: Olympic Games 2012

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received on the likely participation of Iran in the London 2012 Olympics; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: The International Olympic Committee are responsible for inviting member National Olympic Committees to take part in the London 2012 Games. We currently have no information on proposed attendance by any countries.

Iran: Politics and Government

Neil Parish: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his policy is on proposals for the UN Human Rights Council to adopt a resolution to enable the creation of a mechanism to monitor the situation of the Bahá'i community in Iran.

Alistair Burt: The UK remains concerned by the ongoing persecution of the Bahá'i faith in Iran. Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials and I continue to raise these concerns regularly with the Iranian embassy in London, most recently on 17 February 2011. Meanwhile, the UK is actively supporting the proposal to establish a Special Rapporteur on Iran at the Human Rights Council. Such a Rapporteur would report on the full range of abuses in Iran, including those relating to minority rights.

Israel: EU External Relations

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 15 February 2011,  Official Report, column 716W, on Israel: EU external relations, whether he has received legal advice on the Israeli government's compliance with the human rights provisions of the EU-Israeli Association Agreement.

Alistair Burt: The EU Israel Association Agreement was discussed at the EU Israel Association Council meeting on 22 February 2011. The Council's statement makes clear in paragraphs 24-26 the importance it places on Israel complying with the human rights provisions of the EU-Israeli Association Agreement:
	"The EU welcomes the opportunity of a regular dialogue with the Israeli side on human rights issues of common concern, including the protection of the Palestinian population, respect for the Convention of the Rights of the Child, children affected by armed conflicts, the promotion of democracy, rule of law and respect for international humanitarian law, including in the context of the relevant informal working groups. The EU reiterates its call on Israel to establish a subcommittee on human rights, within the framework of the Association Agreement."
	The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not sought specific legal advice on the Israeli Government's compliance with its human rights obligations under the Association Agreement as these are assessed in the European External Action Service's (EEAS) annual progress reports. In producing this report the EEAS conducts an analysis of the Israeli Government's compliance with the human rights provisions of the EU-Israeli Association Agreement.

Libya: Diplomatic Relations

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what advice he received from the Law Officers' Departments prior to authorising the diplomatic mission to eastern Libya.

Alistair Burt: I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary to the House on 7 March 2011,  Official Report, columns 643-45. By long-standing convention, observed by successive governments, the fact of, and substance of the advice from, the law officers of the Crown is not disclosed outside government.

Libya: Diplomatic Relations

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which  (a) individuals and  (b) organisations the diplomatic mission to eastern Libya had planned to meet; and what the circumstances were that gave rise to their arrest and detention.

Alistair Burt: I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary to the House on 7 March 2011,  Official Report, columns 643-45.

Libya: Diplomatic Relations

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs for what reasons members of the diplomatic mission to eastern Libya were issued with  (a) multiple identities and  (b) false passports.

Alistair Burt: I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary to the House on 7 March 2011,  Official Report, columns 643-45.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Children: Maintenance

Michael Connarty: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what criteria he plans to use to determine which parents will be exempt from proposed charges for Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission services; and what estimate he has made of the number of parents who will qualify.

Maria Miller: On 13 January 2011 the Government launched 'Strengthening families, promoting parental responsibility: the future of child maintenance'. This consultation document sets out the changes that we propose to make to the child maintenance system to increase its effectiveness for all families and seeks views to inform our thinking as we outline the way forward.
	At present only half of children living in families where parents have separated are supported with effective financial maintenance arrangements. The proposed charges are to enable more parents to take responsibility and to make effective maintenance arrangements. The proposals are based on the recommendations of Sir David Henshaw's 2006 review 'Recovering child support: routes to responsibility'. The Government recognise the specific circumstances of victims of domestic violence, and it is proposed that these clients will be exempt from the application charge. Additionally for parents on prescribed benefits, there will be reduced charges. The consultation also puts forward the option of fast-tracking other vulnerable families through the gateway and onto the statutory system.
	The Government will develop detailed proposals in relation to these criteria and these will be outlined in draft regulations later in the year. The impact assessments accompanying the draft regulations will set out the estimated impacts on volumes and individuals who will be affected by the proposed new charges.

Council Tax Benefits

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his policy is on the  (a) range and  (b) maximum amount payable to an individual in council tax benefit.

Steve Webb: Anyone who is liable for council tax may make a claim for council tax benefit. Depending on circumstances they may be entitled to receive council tax benefit of £0.01 a week up to a maximum of their full council tax liability.

Crisis Loans: Domestic Appliances

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for what reasons he proposes to end the payment of social fund crisis loans for items such as cookers and beds; and which items will no longer qualify for such loans.

Steve Webb: As outlined in my written ministerial statement of 3 March 2011,  Official Report, columns 45-46WS, we have had to take urgent action to bring spending on crisis loans back under control and ensure we can continue to meet genuine need. Crisis loans will still be available for items in the event of a disaster. They will also be available in an emergency or disaster for living expenses, rent in advance, board and lodging charges, residential charges for hostels, emergency travel when stranded away from home, and the cost of repaying emergency credit on a pre-payment meter.

Departmental Food

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the proportion of the seafood procured for  (a) his Department and  (b) the non-departmental public bodies for which he is responsible that (i) was on the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to avoid and (ii) complied with sustainability standards indicated by inclusion in either the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to eat or by the list of fish species certified by the Marine Stewardship Council in (A) 2010 and (B) 2011 to date.

Chris Grayling: None of the seafood procured for the Department is on the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to avoid. 56% of the seafood procured for the Department complies with sustainability standards indicated by inclusion in either the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to eat or by the list of fish species certified by the Marine Stewardship Council. The percentage is the same for 2010 and 2011 to date
	The Department has a private finance initiative contract with Telereal Trillium for the provision of fully fitted and serviced accommodation. This includes the provision of catering, which is delivered by Eurest, a sub-contractor to Telereal Trillium.
	Of the Department's non-departmental public bodies only the Health and Safety Executive procures seafood and is 100% compliant with sustainability standards indicated by inclusion in either the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to eat or by the list of fish species certified by the Marine Stewardship Council, in 2010 and 2011 to date.

Departmental Manpower

Teresa Pearce: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff were employed by  (a) the National Benefit Fraud Hotline,  (b) the Fraud Investigation Service and  (c) Customer Compliance in each of the last five years.

Chris Grayling: The information in the following table is set out in full-time equivalents and has been rounded to whole numbers. Unfortunately our records only go back as far as 2006-07. These are the latest published data as at September 2010.
	
		
			   March  September 
			   2007  2008  2009  2010  2010 
			 National Benefit Fraud Hotline 40 44 44 41 35 
			 Fraud Investigation Service 3,018 2,872 2,778 2,760 2,764 
			 Customer Compliance 875 911 828 909 922 
		
	
	These data are drawn from internal departmental systems used to monitor staff deployment trends.

Departmental Telephone Services

Teresa Pearce: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his Department has set for the maximum time taken for calls referred by the National Benefit Fraud Helpline to  (a) the Fraud Investigation Service and  (b) Customer Compliance to be (i) allocated to a caseworker and (ii) dealt with and closed.

Chris Grayling: The Department does not set maximum times for calls referred by the National Benefit Fraud Helpline to be allocated to caseworkers or for fraud investigations or customer compliance actions to be concluded.
	Every call to the National Benefit Fraud Hotline is entered immediately on to the IT system and then automatically submitted to either the Fraud Investigation Service or Customer Compliance.
	Investigators are expected to progress cases without undue delay and investigations are brought to a conclusion as soon as enough evidence is gathered to prove or disprove the allegation made. The time taken to do this will depend on the nature of the allegation and the avenues of enquiries that need to be pursued.
	Jobcentre Plus provides guidance to Customer Compliance staff that all referrals should be actioned as soon as possible. This is to ensure that claims are put right as quickly as possible and to limit the amount of any overpayment. This also helps ensure that the intended deterrent effect on the customer is maximised.

Disability Living Allowance

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people are eligible for disability living allowance; and how many such people he expects to be eligible for his proposed personal independence payment.

Maria Miller: As at the end of May 2010, 3,157,310 people of all ages were in receipt of disability living allowance. We do not have an estimate of the number of people who may be eligible for disability living allowance. This is because eligibility is not established until entitlement is tested at the point of claim. The assessment of eligibility for disability living allowance is more complex than for other benefits, involving a detailed judgment of personal care and mobility needs.
	We will replace disability living allowance for people of working age with personal independence payment, a new, more transparent and sustainable benefit with an objective assessment of individual need. Support through personal independence payment will be focused on those with the most need. The detailed criteria that will be used in the new assessment to determine eligibility are currently being developed and are being informed by the consultation which recently closed. At this stage it is not possible to provide an assessment of the impact of personal independence payment on existing disability living allowance, or future recipients, although we are working with disabled people and organisations who represent them on the design and delivery of personal independence payment to ensure that disabled people have a clear understanding of its eligibility criteria and claiming process.

Disability Living Allowance

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the likely effect on  (a) mental health services,  (b) primary care services and  (c) employment levels of changes to entitlement for disability living allowance.

Maria Miller: From 2013 we will replace disability living allowance (DLA) with personal independence payment for new and existing working-age claimants. Personal independence payment will be a new, more transparent and sustainable benefit. Like DLA, personal independence payment will be a non-means-tested, cash benefit which contributes to the extra costs incurred by disabled people as a result of their health condition or impairment.
	There is no information available on the number of DLA recipients accessing mental health services or primary care services. However we expect individuals to be accessing the relevant support services, regardless of benefit receipt. We therefore do not expect the reforms to DLA to impact mental health or primary care services.
	The employment rate of 16 to 64-year-olds in receipt of DLA is 14%. Evidence suggests that DLA can act as a barrier to work and that receiving it appears to reduce the likelihood of being in employment, even after allowing for the impact of health conditions or impairments. Like DLA, personal independence payment will be available regardless of employment status. By giving people the right level of support through personal independence payment, we hope that many more disabled people will be able to work and enjoy the advantages that an active working life can bring.
	The impact assessment for disability living allowance reform considers the impact of DLA reform on health and employment. The impact assessment can be found on the DWP website at:
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/dla-reform-wr2011-ia.pdf

Employment and Support Allowance

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for what reason he has laid Statutory Instrument 2011 No. 228 in advance of the publication of reports from the review group led by Professor Malcolm Harrington considering  (a) mental health conditions and  (b) fluctuating conditions.

Chris Grayling: The reason we have done this is to offer greater protection to those undergoing chemotherapy, those in residential rehabilitation and those with particularly severe mental health conditions in the support group.
	In addition, we do not believe those who have adapted to their condition should remain in the Work Related Activity Group (WRAG) but should be given the support to look for work. Under the current situation, those in wheelchairs automatically go into the WRAG, we do not believe in a one size all fits all given our goal is to move as many people with disabilities into employment.
	We believe reviewing and improving the work capability assessment (WCA) is an ongoing process so we have asked Professor Harrington to bring forward his recommendations and all will be in place for the national reassessment of incapacity benefit claimants.
	Professor Harrington has been appointed to conduct a second independent review of the WCA and provide further recommendations as appropriate ensuring continued scrutiny and refinement.

Employment and Support Allowance: Work Capability Assessment

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent representations he has received from individuals and organisations in the West Midlands on the employment and support allowance work capability assessment.

Chris Grayling: Information on the number of representations received by the Department in the West Midlands specifically about the work capability assessment element of employment and support allowance is not available.

Employment: Disability

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assistance is available for people with disabilities to move from jobseeker's allowance into paid employment; and if he will make a statement.

Maria Miller: We are committed to ensuring that disabled people have the same employment opportunities and chances as everyone else to find and stay in paid employment, regardless of their disability or benefit status.
	As part of this commitment, the Department for Work and Pensions is responsible for a range of employment provision specifically aimed at disabled people, including those receiving jobseeker's allowance (JSA).
	Work Choice, which was launched in October last year, provides tailored support to help disabled people who face the most complex barriers to employment find and stay in work and ultimately help them progress into unsupported employment, where it is appropriate for the individual. Work Choice is voluntary and available regardless of any benefits being claimed.
	Access to Work provides practical advice and financial support to employed disabled people above and beyond what the employer could reasonably provide, to help them overcome obstacles resulting from disability and thus stay in work.
	In addition Remploy, an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions, delivers a range of employment and development opportunities for disabled people under the Work Choice programme.
	The Department for Work and Pensions also funds residential training for unemployed disabled adults whose needs cannot be met through any other government-funded programmes.
	From April 2011 the support that Jobcentre Plus delivers to customers across all working age benefits (including JSA) is changing. Jobcentre Plus managers and advisers will have more flexibility to judge which interventions will help disabled customers move towards paid employment in the most cost-effective way ensuring provision is tailored to personal and local labour market needs. To support this, Jobcentre Plus are introducing a suite of measures bringing together communities, the voluntary sector, business people and employers, to help get people back to work.
	Jobcentre Plus will continue to work closely with local health services, supported by disability employment advisers and work psychologists.
	Later this year, the Work Programme will be introduced which will provide more personalised back-to-work support for unemployed people, including disabled people.
	I also commissioned an independent review of the support the Government provides to disabled people who want to work. This review is being conducted by Liz Sayce, chief executive of the disability organisation RADAR and will report in summer 2011, with recommendations on how existing specialist employment support for disabled people can better serve the Department's wide-ranging customer base.

Incapacity Benefits

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  whether claimants who were assessed as being entitled to incapacity benefit in the last  (a) 12 months and  (b) 6 months will be required to participate in the new reassessment programme;
	(2)  whether individuals reaching their state pension age prior to April 2014 will be affected by the incapacity benefit reassessment programme;
	(3)  what criteria will be used to decide which incapacity benefit claimants will be required to undergo a work capability assessment in order to determine their future benefit entitlement;
	(4)  what mechanism his Department plans to put in place to ensure that individuals who are severely disabled or terminally ill are not required to undergo incapacity benefit reassessment.

Chris Grayling: We have begun reassessing the benefit entitlement of all old-style incapacity benefits claimants. Those people who are assessed as capable of work will be moved onto jobseekers allowance where eligible. People who are assessed as having limited capability for work will be moved to employment and support allowance. We are reassessing everyone claiming old-style incapacity benefits, regardless of the date of their last incapacity benefit assessment.
	We do not believe that it would be right to exclude claimants from the reassessment process as a result of a particular health condition or disability. Many people with health conditions are able to sustain and progress in employment if they are supported to do so. Those people being exempted from the reassessment are those incapacity benefits claimants who will reach retirement age during the reassessment process, as they will shortly be claiming benefits for pensioners.
	Those claimants being reassessed need to undergo a work capability assessment (WCA) to allow us to understand their ability to engage in work or work-related activities. The work capability assessment is based on the premise that eligibility for employment and support allowance should not be based on a person's health condition or disability, but rather on the way their health condition or disability limits their functional capability. Therefore, claimants are not automatically exempted from the work capability assessment because they have a particular health condition or disability.
	A face-to-face assessment by a trained health care professional is a standard part of the work capability assessment process. However, we recognise that asking claimants to attend an unnecessary face-to-face assessment is in no one's interests. People who unfortunately have a terminal illness do not need to undergo a face-to-face assessment as part of the reassessment of their incapacity benefit. These claimants will automatically be treated as having limited capability for work-related activity, and so will be placed in the Support Group of Employment and Support Allowance, where they will not be expected to undertake work related activity. Some other claimants may also be exempted from a face-to-face assessment if we are able to make an assessment based purely on the evidence provided.
	Terminal illness for these purposes means that a claimant is suffering from a progressive disease, and that death in consequence of that disease can reasonably be expected within six months.

Income Support: Lone Parents

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many lone parents on income support there were in  (a) 1997,  (b) 2005 and  (c) 2010 in (i) Coventry, (ii) the West Midlands and (iii) nationally.

Maria Miller: The figures requested are provided in the following table:
	
		
			   May  each year 
			   1997  2005  2010 
			 Great Britain 1,018,400 789,320 679,150 
			 Coventry (local authority) 6,000 5,540 5,030 
			 West midlands 92,300 75,580 68,340 
			  Notes: 1. May 2005 and May 2010 figures are based upon 100% data and have been rounded to the nearest 10. 2. May 2007 figures are based upon a 5% sample and have been rounded to the nearest 100.

Pensioners: Personal Savings

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the proportion of  (a) women and  (b) men aged 56 years who have no pension savings.

Steve Webb: The information is as follows:
	 (a) The proportion of women aged 56-years-old who have no private pension wealth is estimated to be 40%.
	 (b) The proportion of men aged 56-years-old who have no private pension wealth is estimated to be 22%.
	 Notes:
	1. We interpreted the question to mean wealth held in private pensions. Private pensions are all pensions that are not state basic retirement or state earnings related. There are nine categories included in the estimates of private pension wealth: defined benefit (DB) pensions, defined contribution (DC) pensions and personal pensions to which the individual was contributing at the time of survey, additional voluntary contributions (AVCs) made to current pensions, retained rights in DB and DC schemes, pension funds from which the individual was drawing an income through income drawdown, pensions in payment and pensions expected in the future based on the contributions of a former spouse. The estimates quoted include those individuals with zero pension wealth. The private pension wealth figures provided here were not immediately available from the Wealth and Assets Survey report, and were obtained by carrying out in-house analysis of the data.
	2. The Wealth and Assets Survey (WAS) is a large scale nationally representative longitudinal survey of over 30,000 private households in Great Britain that provides comprehensive information on people's assets and net wealth. The first wave was conducted from July 2006 to June 2008. It collected detailed information on financial and non-financial assets, and wealth components such as savings, pensions, property, mortgages and debt as well as people's attitudes and savings behaviour over time.
	3. Extensive analysis of pension wealth using the Wealth and Assets data is available in "Wealth in Great Britain 2006/08" at the following web link:
	http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_economy/wealth-assets-2006-2008/Wealth_in_GB_2006_2008.pdf
	 Source:
	Wealth and Assets Survey 2006/08.

Pensions: Poverty

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to reduce pensioner poverty.

Steve Webb: The Government have restored the earnings link for the basic state pension and given a triple guarantee that the basic state pension will increase by the highest of the growth in average earnings, price increases (as measured by the consumer prices index) or 2.5%. It is estimated that the average person retiring on a full basic state pension in April 2011 will receive £15,000 more in basic state pension income over their retirement than they would have done under the old prices link.
	The restoration of the earnings link and the triple guarantee will benefit both existing and future pensioners by providing a more generous state pension, giving a solid financial foundation from the state, which is essential as part of the pensions system.
	In April 2011 it is proposed that the basic state pension will increase by 4.6%, in line with the retail prices index, to fulfil a commitment made at the Budget. After that the triple guarantee will apply.
	This Government are protecting key benefits for pensioners. Free eye tests; free prescription charges; free bus passes; free television licences for the over 75s; and winter fuel payments will remain exactly as budgeted for by the previous Government. We have also made the temporary increase in the cold weather payment to £25 permanent.
	We are introducing automatic enrolment into workplace pensions from 2012. This is a central element of our strategy to reinvigorate private pension savings and aims to harness inertia and bring about a change in people's behaviour in saving for retirement. We expect this to radically increase the number of people saving into a pension and to lead to between 5 million and 8 million people newly saving or saving more in all forms of workplace pension schemes.
	We are conducting a research study to help build the evidence base on how the information that we routinely collect can be used more effectively to ensure pensioners get the help that is available through pension credit. This is a longer term aspiration and the study is a first step in seeing if this type of approach might be possible.

Personal Independence Payment: Autism

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what representations he has received from autism experts on the assessment process for his proposed personal independence payment;
	(2)  what steps he plans to take to ensure that the needs of people with autism are taken into account when designing the assessment procedure for his proposed personal independence payment.

Maria Miller: The assessment is being developed in collaboration with an independent group of specialists in health, social care and disability, including disabled people. Its membership encompasses a wide variety of relevant expertise and reflects a broad range of experience in the needs of disabled people. As well as representatives from RADAR and Equality 2025, the group includes individuals from professions such as occupational therapy, psychiatry, physiotherapy, social work, general practice and community psychiatric nursing. This approach ensures that the initial development work is being undertaken within a holistic view of the impact of disability.
	This group is currently undertaking the early design work on the assessment criteria. Once the broad principles are in place, we will work with the assessment group, disabled people and their organisations on refinement and testing. We know it is essential that the assessment accurately captures the needs of disabled people with autistic spectrum disorders and this is something that the development group is considering. We are still considering the delivery model for the assessment and no decisions have yet been taken. We recognise the importance of providing adequate training and guidance for assessors and of ensuring that the assessment process is appropriate to individual's circumstances, including individuals with autistic spectrum disorders.
	During the public consultation on DLA reform, we received responses from a number of disability organisations representing autistic spectrum disorders. Both I and departmental officials have also met with the National Autistic Society to discuss our reform proposals and to seek their views on how the new benefit can best support those with autism. We agree with many of the points raised in the National Autistic Society's recent report on DLA reform, 'Who benefits?', and we are looking closely at how these recommendations can be incorporated into its design. We will continue to work with disabled people and their organisations as the detail of the assessment criteria and its operation is developed and tested.

Personal Independence Payment: Autism

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he plans to take to support people with autism who lose their eligibility for  (a) his proposed personal independence payment and  (b) disability living allowance.

Maria Miller: From 2013 we will replace disability living allowance for people of working age with personal independence payment, a new, more transparent and sustainable benefit with an objective assessment of individual need. Support through personal independence payment will be focussed on those with the most need. The detailed criteria that will be used in the new assessment to determine eligibility are currently being developed and are being informed by the consultation which recently closed. I am, therefore, unable at this time to comment on how the new assessment will work or make estimates of its impact on people with specific health conditions or impairments. However, we are committed to ensuring that it reflects the needs of all individuals effectively. We recognise that the current assessment criteria for disability living allowance can favour physical impairments and does not always fully reflect the needs of disabled people with mental, intellectual, cognitive and development impairments, including autistic spectrum disorders.
	The Department remains committed to supporting the life chances of people with autism. They will continue to benefit from the delivery of more flexible services across government for people facing complex barriers; through the introduction of the universal credit; and through the Work programme and Work Choice.

Post Office Card Account: Livingston

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Livingston constituency have a Post Office card account.

Steve Webb: The information is not available in the format requested as data held relates to benefit accounts rather than people. Customers may be in receipt of more than one benefit, pension or allowance which could be paid into one Post Office card account.
	As at September 2010, the number of benefit and pension accounts being paid into a Post Office card account in Livingston constituency was 6,860.

Poverty: Disability

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effect on levels of poverty of people with disabilities of the proposed removal of the mobility component of disability living allowance from those living in residential care homes.

Maria Miller: We are unable to provide an assessment of the effect on levels of poverty of the proposed removal of the mobility component of disability living allowance from those living in residential care homes. Information concerning levels of poverty is derived from the Family Resources Survey. In common with other social surveys, it surveys private households and therefore excludes those in care homes.

Social Security Benefits

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people re-claimed  (a) incapacity benefit,  (b) income support and (c) severe disablement allowance as a result of linking rules in each quarter since 1999.

Maria Miller: The information requested is not available. This is because established management information systems that the Department uses for statistical analysis do not have any readily available and reliable indicators of use of linking rules. Estimates could be made by linking datasets over time and doing complex analysis, but this would incur disproportionate cost.

Social Security Benefits: Pay Methods

Gregg McClymont: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  if he will provide additional support to pensioners and other vulnerable customers to assist them in the change to their means of benefit collection from bank giro to collection via Paypoints;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the potential effects on pensioners of ending the bank giro contract with the Post Office.

Steve Webb: No customer will be transferred to the new service until they have had an opportunity to discuss the move with an adviser and we are satisfied that they have ail the information they need.
	The Department has been writing to customers for the last three years preparing them for the phased transfer to the new service. There will be additional support for those customers who require it, to ensure that their needs continue to be met, which for some may include switching to the Post Office card account.
	Only 60,000 pensioners rely on cheques for all their payments. Across Government and throughout the UK there are fewer than 250,000 who rely only on cheque payments and this number is declining steadily.
	The new service has been designed specifically for those people who are unable to make use of mainstream accounts. For those unable to use a bank account or the Post Office card account, the new service should work in much the same way for customers as cheques do now-they will still go to a convenient, local outlet to collect their cash. And we are satisfied that it will provide the same flexibility required for use by those who rely on someone else to collect their money for them.

Social Security Benefits: Pay Methods

Gregg McClymont: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his most recent estimate is of the cost to the public purse of providing the successor to the Green Giro service through Citibank and Paypoint in each year of the comprehensive spending review period.

Chris Grayling: The total cost to the public purse is estimated to be in the region of £20 million per year, dependant on volumes and when the services are fully implemented. Over the SR2010 period we expect that total costs will be between £40 and £55 million.
	For comparison, the current cheque service costs the Department around £30 million a year. The new service will therefore save the taxpayer around £10 million a year in administrative costs, plus another £5 million a year from eliminating cheque fraud and abuse.

Universal Credit

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what strategy he plans to use to migrate individuals to universal credit.

Chris Grayling: The current intention and provisional timetable is that transition to universal credit will take place between October 2013 and October 2017. The transition planning will include all new claims for out of work support, all new claims for in work support and migration of existing caseloads. The order in which new claims and existing caseloads will be transitioned will be informed by considering all the evidence and a full option appraisal.

Welfare Reform Bill

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he expects to introduce further primary legislation on welfare reform following the implementation of the provisions of the Welfare Reform Bill.

Chris Grayling: No decisions have been made on whether the Government will introduce further primary legislation on welfare reform. This would be announced in the Queen's Speech.

Work Capability Assessment

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what bonuses are payable by Atos assessors in respect of their performance in undertaking work capability assessments; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Grayling: The health care professionals employed by Atos Healthcare to conduct medical assessments on behalf of the Department do not receive bonuses related to the outcome of entitlement to benefit. The health care professional provides relevant reports to DWP Decision Makers who award or disallow benefit but they play no part in the actual decision making process.

JUSTICE

Assaults on Police: Sentencing

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many assaults on police officers resulted in  (a) custodial and  (b) non-custodial sentences in the latest period for which figures are available;  [Official Report, 29 March 2011, Vol. 526, c. 3MC.]
	(2)  how many cautions were issued in each of the last three years for triable offences.

Crispin Blunt: The number of defendants sentenced and given an immediate custody for an assault on a constable at all courts, in England and Wales for 2009 (latest available) is provided in table 1. This is a summary only offence which is charged where little or no physical harm is involved. Where there are more serious injuries this would result in a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and it is not possible to say how many convictions for this offence arise from assaults on police officers.
	The number of offenders cautioned for indictable only offences in England and Wales, 2007 to 2009 (latest available) is provided in table 2.
	Data for 2010 are planned for publication in the spring of 2011.
	
		
			  Table 1: Number of defendants sentenced and given an immediate custody for assault on a constable( 1)  at all courts, England and Wales, 2009( 2,3) 
			  Statute  Offence  Sentenced  Custodial sentence  Other disposals( 4) 
			 Police Act 1996 Assault on a constable 9,201 1,457 7,744 
			 (1) Police Act 1996 s.89(1)-Assault on a constable. (2) The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (3) Every effort Is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their Inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (4) Other disposals include: absolute discharge, conditional discharge, fine, community sentence, suspended sentence and otherwise dealt with.  Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services-Ministry of Justice 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Number of offenders cautioned1,2 for indictable only offences, England and Wales, 2007-09( 3) 
			   2007  2008  2009 
			 Indictable only 5,371 1,945 1,405 
			 (1) The cautions statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When an offender has been cautioned for two or more offences at the same time the principal offence is the more serious offence. (2) From 1 June 2000 the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 came into force nationally and removed the use of cautions for persons under 18 and replaced them with reprimands and warnings. These figures have been included in the totals. (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.  Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services - Ministry of Justice

Coroners

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what recent estimate he has made of the average waiting time for an inquest in each coroners' district;
	(2)  what the longest waiting time was in each coroners' district for an inquest held in the last 12 months for which figures are available; and what the reasons were for the time taken in each case;
	(3)  how many  (a) inquests into deaths in custody and  (b) other inquests requiring a jury are outstanding in each coroners' district; and what the reasons are for the time taken to hold the inquests.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Ministry of Justice collects statistical information on the length of time from death to the completion of inquest in aggregate form by asking coroners to report the number of inquests completed within specified time bands. The estimated average length of time between death and completion of inquest for inquests completed during 2009 for each coroner's district in England and Wales is set out in the table. We do not, however, hold data relating to the length of time taken to complete any individual inquest, so do not have information about the inquest which took the longest time to complete in each coroner district, or why.
	The table also sets out the total number of outstanding inquests in each coroner's district as at 31 December 2009. However, we do not collect information on how many of these relate to deaths in custody or require a jury.
	The latest published National Statistics on the work of coroners relates to 2009 and is available on the Ministry of Justice website at:
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/coronersannual.htm
	Statistics for 2010 are due to be published on 19 May.
	
		
			  Table: Number of inquests ongoing at 31 December 2009, and average time to process completed inquests, in weeks, for each coroner's district for year 2009 
			  Coroner's district  Average time to process completed inquests (weeks)  Number of inquests open at the end of  the year 
			 The Queen's Household n/a - 
			
			  England   
			  North East   
			 Durham   
			 Darlington and South Durham 28 78 
			 North Durham 39 168 
			 Hartlepool 22 18 
			
			 Northumberland   
			 North Northumberland 36 99 
			 South Northumberland 18 59 
			 Teesside 34 289 
			
			 Tyne and Wear   
			 Gateshead and South Tyneside 15 81 
			 Newcastle Upon Tyne 23 140 
			 North Tyneside 17 74 
			 Sunderland 22 144 
			
			  North West   
			 Cheshire 27 351 
			
			 Cumbria   
			 South and East Cumbria 23 60 
			 North and West Cumbria 38 141 
			
			 Greater Manchester   
			 Manchester City 31 378 
			 Manchester North 28 226 
			 Manchester South 29 199 
			 Manchester West 22 244 
			
			 Lancashire   
			 Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley 14 54 
			 Blackpool/Fylde 25 60 
			 East Lancashire 25 58 
			 Preston and West Lancashire 20 122 
			
			 Merseyside   
			 Sefton, Knowsley and St Helens 27 130 
			 Liverpool 10 59 
			 Wirral 21 98 
			
			  Yorkshire and the Humber   
			 East Riding and Hull 21 88 
			 North Lincolnshire and Grimsby 27 53 
			 York City 29 81 
			
			 North Yorkshire   
			 North Yorkshire Eastern District 19 43 
			 North Yorkshire Western District 25 57 
			
			 South Yorkshire   
			 South Yorkshire Eastern District 19 187 
			 South Yorkshire Western District 21 139 
			
			 West Yorkshire   
			 West Yorkshire Eastern District 33 283 
			 West Yorkshire Western District 30 266 
			
			  East Midlands   
			 Derbyshire   
			 Derby and South Derbyshire 26 133 
			 North Derbyshire 17 99 
			
			 Leicestershire   
			 Leicester City and South Leicestershire 37 171 
			 Rutland and North Leicestershire 24 67 
			
			 Lincolnshire   
			 Boston and Spalding 21 24 
			 West Lincolnshire 22 81 
			 Spilsby and Louth 20 S 
			 Stamford 25 6 
			 Northamptonshire 9 185 
			 Nottinghamshire 16 122 
			
			  West Midlands   
			 Herefordshire 24 54 
			
			 Shropshire   
			 Mid and North Shropshire 21 37 
			 South Shropshire 25 22 
			
			 Staffordshire   
			 Staffordshire South 26 143 
			 Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire 33 229 
			 Telford and Wrekin 24 33 
			 Warwickshire 16 51 
			
			 West Midlands (Metropolitan Area)   
			 Birmingham and Solihull 23 304 
			 Black Country 24 140 
			 Coventry 18 74 
			 Wolverhampton 27 86 
			 Worcestershire 17 97 
			
			  East of England   
			 Bedfordshire and Luton 17 57 
			
			 Cambridgeshire   
			 North and East Cambridgeshire 20 17 
			 South and West Cambridgeshire 19 39 
			 Essex and Thurrock 44 532 
			 Hertfordshire 20 135 
			
			 Norfolk   
			 Great Yarmouth 20 16 
			 Greater Norfolk 19 112 
			 Peterborough 26 53 
			 Southend-on-Sea 27 77 
			 Suffolk 20 80 
			
			  London   
			 City of London 47 17 
			 East London 34 259 
			 Inner North London 18 124 
			 Inner South London 25 210 
			 Inner West London 17 123 
			 North London 33 272 
			 South London 26 135 
			 West London 31 252 
			
			  South East   
			 Berkshire 26 139 
			 Brighton and Hove 13 56 
			 Buckinghamshire 20 44 
			 East Sussex 33 161 
			
			 Hampshire   
			 Central Hampshire 29 77 
			 North East Hampshire 12 16 
			 Portsmouth and South East Hampshire 49 301 
			 Southampton and New Forest 17 84 
			 Isle of Wight 33 44 
			
			 Kent   
			 Central and South East Kent 36 106 
			 Mid Kent and Medway 27 128 
			 North East Kent 15 66 
			 North West Kent 25 61 
			 Milton Keynes 13 39 
			 Oxfordshire 30 134 
			 Surrey 26 188 
			 West Sussex 20 126 
			
			  South West   
			 Avon 34 389 
			 Cornwall 35 225 
			
			 Devon   
			 Exeter and Greater Devon 50 246 
			 Plymouth and South West Devon 30 128 
			 Torbay and South Devon 21 48 
			
			 Dorset   
			 Bournemouth, Poole and Eastern Dorset 12 37 
			 Western Dorset 19 42 
			 Gloucestershire 42 314 
			 Isles of Scilly n/a 1 
			
			 Somerset   
			 Eastern Somerset 26 73 
			 Western Somerset 20 66 
			 Wiltshire and Swindon 38 258 
			
			  Wales   
			 Bridgend and Glamorgan Valleys 52 369 
			 Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan 16 97 
			 Carmarthenshire 20 37 
			 Central North Wales 27 69 
			 Ceredigion 32 5 
			 Gwent 25 37 
			 Neath and Port Talbot 29 34 
			 North East Wales 25 64 
			 North West Wales 27 83 
			 Pembrokeshire 22 24 
			 Powys 48 42 
			 City and County of Swansea 36 152 
			
			 England and Wales 26 13,813 
			  Notes on how timeliness of inquests is estimated: l. For the purpose of determining the timeliness of inquests, the time taken to conduct an inquest is deemed to be from the day the death was reported to the coroner until either (a) the day the inquest is concluded by the delivery of a verdict or (b) the day the coroner certifies that an adjourned inquest will not be resumed. 2. The average time for an inquest to be conducted is estimated in the following way: Coroners are asked in their annual return to state how many inquests were concluded within certain time periods. There are five time bands, which are: within one month; 1-3 months; 3-6 months; 6-12 months; and over 12 months. All the inquests falling within a time-band are then assumed to have been completed at or near the mid-point of the various time-bands for the purposes of calculating the average, although inquests within the "under one month" band are assumed to have taken 3 weeks for this purpose of this estimation, and those inquests taking over a year to conclude were deemed to have taken 18 months, although the time-band itself is open-ended. Numbers are then aggregated and the average figure (in weeks) calculated in the normal way. 3. Only deaths occurring within England and Wales are included in the calculation. Statistics are not collected on the time taken for inquests where the death occurred outside England and Wales.

Departmental Food

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will estimate the proportion of the seafood procured for  (a) his Department,  (b) its agencies and  (c) the non-departmental public bodies for which he is responsible that (i) was on the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to avoid and (ii) complied with sustainability standards indicated by inclusion in either the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to eat or by the list of fish species certified by the Marine Stewardship Council in (A) 2010 and (B) 2011 to date.

Crispin Blunt: The percentage of seafood procured on behalf of HM Prison Service that are (i) on the Marine Conservation Society's list offish to avoid and (ii) complied with sustainability standards indicated by inclusion in either the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to eat or by the list of fish specifies certified by the Marine Stewardship Council in (A) 2010 and (B) 2011 to date are listed as follows:
	
		
			   2010  2011 
			 (i) Percentage seafood procured on Marine Conservation List of fish to avoid 0 0 
			 (ii) Percentage seafood procured compliant with sustainability standards indicated by Marine Conservation Society's or Marine Stewardship Council's list of fish to eat 100 100 
		
	
	In 2010 a total of 35.6% of fish procured by HM Prison Service were farmed, in 2011 (to date) a total of 47.7% of fish procured by HM Prison Service has been farmed.
	HM Prison Service food purchases account for 99.6% of direct food procurement within the Ministry of Justice, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies.
	All other fish used within  (a) the Ministry of Justice,  (b) its agencies and  (c) its non-departmental public bodies are procured via a wide range of contracted out catering service providers a significant number of which have been replaced within the last 12 months and commercial relations with these suppliers have ceased.
	As such the information on fish procurement by contracted out catering services could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Domestic Violence

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what definition of the term domestic violence his Department uses for police and court operational purposes; and which relationships are covered by this term.

Lynne Featherstone: I have been asked to reply.
	The Government definition of domestic violence is:
	"any incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse (psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional) between adults who are or have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender or sexuality".
	An adult is defined as any person aged 18 years or over. Family members are defined as mother, father, son, daughter, brother, sister and grandparents whether directly related, in-laws or step-family.
	For police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) operational purposes, there is not a restriction on the age of the perpetrator or victim.
	Under the provisions of the Family Law Act 1996, applicants are defined by their relationship to the respondent as 'associated persons'. Section 62(3) provides an extensive list of associated persons.

Legal Aid

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the likely effect on administration costs of his proposals to assess in full the eligibility of all legal aid claimants.

Jonathan Djanogly: The consultation document 'Proposals for the Reform of Legal Aid in England and Wales', published in November 2010, proposed assessing the capital of those in receipt of welfare benefit when assessing whether they are eligible for civil legal aid. Currently those in receipt of certain income based benefits are automatically financially eligible.
	Impact assessments were published alongside the consultation paper. The financial eligibility impact assessment concluded that the one-off costs, such as IT and training, are likely to be negligible. The ongoing costs are likely to be offset by the ongoing benefits as a result of a reduction in volumes. The consultation closed on 14 February and we are currently considering the responses received.

Powers of Attorney

Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what evidence his Department has  (a) evaluated and  (b) commissioned on the change in the (i) number of vulnerable people taking out a lasting power of attorney (LPA) and (ii) levels of protection from fraud in respect of LPA since the coming into force of the Mental Capacity Act 2005;
	(2)  how many people took out a lasting power of attorney in each year since 2000.

Jonathan Djanogly: Lasting powers of attorney (LPA) were introduced on 1 October 2007 following the implementation of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and replaced enduring powers of attorney (EPA). Since the MCA has come into force we have seen the volumes of applications for registration as listed in the following table:
	
		
			   EPAs  LPAs 
			 2007-08 (six months) 11,116 9,109 
			 2008-09 20,623 59,244 
			 2009-10 20,053 106,106 
			 2010-11 (estimated) 19,247 169,290 
		
	
	An LPA can only be made by a person with the appropriate mental capacity. The empowering nature of the instrument, and the process of registration mean there is no assessment of whether those making LPAs might be considered vulnerable.
	We have recently made an assessment of the trends in applications and predicted the following volumes of applications going forward:
	
		
			   EPAs and LPAs (total) 
			 2011-12 195,00 
			 2012-13 224,000 
			 2013-14 256,000 
		
	
	The Ministry of Justice recently issued a memorandum to the Justice Select Committee on the operation of the MCA to date, which makes a preliminary assessment of the impact of the Act and the effectiveness of its implementation. The Ministry and the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) will consider what additional evaluation of the Act, and further consideration of how the needs of vulnerable people are being met, would be useful and will take forward future research as appropriate.
	With respect to the levels of protection from fraud, LP As offer greater protection for the customer compared to EPAs. These include the need for registration with the OPG before an LPA can be used and the requirement for an independent person, known as a Certificate Provider, to certify that the customer understands the implications of making the LPA. The customer is also able to choose who should be notified when an application to register is made and these people can object to registration if they have any concerns.
	The number of objections made to the Court of Protection in relation to the registration of an EPA or an LPA are shown in the following table. This provides some evidence that the safeguards provided by the MCA are working. The number of objections should also be considered against the backdrop of LPA applications being far higher than EPA applications.
	
		
			   2007 - 08  2008 - 09  2009 - 10  2010 - 11  Total 
			 EPA objections 391 550 444 219 1604 
			 LPA objections 10 69 79 74 232 
		
	
	The Public Guardian's statutory powers include investigating the actions of attorneys acting under registered enduring and lasting powers of attorney. He may also investigate the actions of deputies who are appointed by the Court of Protection (normally where no EPA or LPA has previously been made).
	To provide an indication of the activity in this area, the number of investigations undertaken by the OPG into allegations of abuse is listed in the following table. For completeness we have also included the numbers of investigations undertaken into deputies.
	
		
			Investigations carried out 
			   Referrals  EPA  LPA  Deputies 
			 2007-08 (six months) 210 36 0 41 
			 2008-09 727 163 29 115 
			 2009-10 1,053 210 89 191 
			 2010-11 (to date) 2,361 123 149 87 
			  
			 Totals 4,351 532 (43%) 267 (22%) 434 (35%)

Prisoners' Release

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will review the procedures for the early release of prisoners transferred to the UK to serve the remainder of their sentences; and if he will make a statement.

Crispin Blunt: There are no plans to review the release procedures for those prisoners sentenced abroad who are transferred to England and Wales to continue serving their sentence here.
	Prisoners who are transferred to England and Wales to complete their sentence are subject to the normal release and early release provisions governing all prisoners in England and Wales.
	The repatriation of prisoners to Scotland and Northern Ireland is a matter for the respective devolved Administration.

Prisons: Industrial Disputes

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department and its associated public bodies have spent on the preparation of contingency plans for potential industrial action by prison staff in the last two years.

Crispin Blunt: In the last two years the National Offender Management Service has undertaken work on contingency planning for industrial action as part of a wider range of duties. The cost of this work cannot be disaggregated from other costs.

Prisons: Industrial Disputes

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department and its associated public bodies have spent on training of army personnel to undertake prison officer duties as part of contingency plans for potential industrial action by prison staff in the last two years.

Crispin Blunt: There are no plans to train army personnel to operate as prison officers. However, work is underway between the Ministries of Justice and Defence to prepare military staff to support the National Offender Management Service in the event of widespread industrial action. The precise costs of this work have yet to be finalised.

Prisons: Industrial Disputes

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with 
	(1)  which private companies his Department has agreements to supply staff to undertake prison officer duties as part of contingency plans for potential industrial action by prison staff;
	(2)  how much has been paid to private companies in respect of agreements to supply staff to undertake prison officer duties as part of the contingency plans for potential industrial action by prison staff.

Crispin Blunt: The current contingency arrangements for industrial action by prison staff do not involve extending the existing contractual arrangements with private sector companies.

Prisons: Industrial Disputes

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what training is required of those who are nominated to undertake prison officer duties as part of contingency plans for potential industrial action by prison staff.

Crispin Blunt: There are no plans to nominate anyone to operate as prison officers during industrial action. As a result, no such training is required. Instead, the police and military will provide support to the National Offender Management Service during widespread industrial action. Familiarisation training for military staff has been developed which includes an understanding of the prison environment and control and restraint procedures.

Sentencing

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether he has plans to bring forward proposals to allow the Crown Prosecution Service to appeal to the Crown court against convictions and sentences from magistrates courts.

Crispin Blunt: I have no plans to do so.

Sentencing

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many offenders who breached their licence conditions or re-offended whilst on licence were  (a) returned to prison to serve the full sentence,  (b) returned to prison to serve a shorter sentence than the remaining period of their licence and  (c) not returned to prison in the latest period for which figures are available.

Crispin Blunt: Data on sentencing for further offences committed by offenders released on licence is not available. There were 113 offenders recalled between 1 July and 30 September 2010 and not returned to custody by 31 December 2010. This figure was published on 27 January 2011 in Offender Management Statistics Quarterly Bulletin (table 1.1). It includes those offenders believed to be dead or living outside of the UK but who have not been confirmed as dead or deported. Table 1.1 can be found in the House Library and at the following link:
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/offender-management-stats-quarterly.htm
	Additionally, the data can be seen in the table.
	These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
	
		
			  Table 5.1: Summary of licence recalls to 30 September 2010 and returns to custody by 31 December 2010, England and Wales 
			   Number 
			 Offenders recalled 1 January 1984 to 30 June 2010 (1)110,769 
			 Returned to custody by 31 December 2010 (2)109,922 
			 Not returned to custody by 31 December 2010 847 
			   
			 Offenders recalled 1 July 2010 to 30 September 2010 4,163 
			 Returned to custody by 31 December 2010 (2)4,050 
			 Not returned to custody by 31 December 2010 113 
			   
			 Total offenders not returned to custody by  31 December 2010 960 
			 (1) The total number of offenders recalled does not include those recalled during the period 1984 to 1999 as this figure is approximate (see Explanatory notes). (2) The number returned to custody includes those who are confirmed dead or were deported by the UK Borders Agency.  Data Sources and Quality: These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Sentencing

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what guidance he issues to magistrates and judges on the activation of suspended sentences where an offence is committed inside the operational period but the sentence is handed down after the operational period has ended.

Crispin Blunt: We do not issue guidance to magistrates and judges on sentencing. Under the legislation, where the offender commits a further offence while the suspended sentence order was operational, there is a presumption that the suspended sentence will take effect unless the court finds it would be unjust to do so in all the circumstances.

Sentencing

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what guidance he issues to magistrates on the use of their powers under section 116 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 regarding breaches of licence.

Crispin Blunt: The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (Mr Clarke), does not issue guidance to magistrates on how they should use their sentencing powers. The Judicial Studies Board ensures that magistrates are kept up-to-date with relevant legislation and are given training on the sentencing powers that are available to them. It would not be appropriate for the Government to advise courts on how their sentencing powers should be applied.
	Section 116 gives courts the power, when sentencing an offender for a further offence committed before the expiry of a previous sentence, to add to whatever sentence it imposes for the new offence a period of return to custody under the original sentence. It is up to the courts to decide in each case whether to invoke the power and if so how long the period of return should be. The power does not relate to breaches of licence for which there are different enforcement and administrative recall provisions.
	Section 116 was repealed by the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and does not, therefore, apply to prisoners released under that Act, The power continues to apply only to prisoners subject to the release provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 1991.

Sentencing

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice in what circumstances concurrent sentences instead of consecutive sentences may be handed down.

Crispin Blunt: In all cases the courts determine which sentence or sentences to impose and how those sentences should be served. The general principle they follow is that offences arising from the same incident will usually lead to concurrent sentences. On the same general principle, offences committed on separate occasions against different victims usually result in consecutive sentences.

Sentencing

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many defendants were sentenced to disposals up to and including six months imprisonment following conviction by way of a jury trial at the Crown court on  (a) offences triable either way sent by magistrates where their sentencing powers were not deemed to be sufficient,  (b) offences triable either way where the defendant had chosen to elect jury trial and  (c) offences triable only on indictment in the latest period for which figures are available.

Crispin Blunt: The number of defendants who entered a known not guilty plea and were subsequently found guilty at the Crown court, and sentenced to immediate custody in England and Wales 2009 (latest available), can be viewed in the following table.
	Court proceedings data held centrally do not distinguish between those either-way cases in which the magistrates refused jurisdiction and those where the defendant elected Crown court trial.
	Data for 2010 are planned for publication in the spring of 2011.
	
		
			  Number of defendants who entered a known not guilty plea and were subsequently found guilty at the Crown court, and sentenced to immediate custody in England and Wales 2009( 1, 2, 3) 
			  Crown court  Indictable only  Triable either way  Total indictable including triable either way 
			 Total found guilty and sentenced at Crown court 3,033 5,814 8,847 
			  Of which:
			 Immediate custody 2,760 3,348 6,108 
			  Of which:
			 Immediate custodial sentence less than six months 32 331 363 
			 Immediate custodial sentence greater than six months 2,728 3,017 5,745 
			 Other sentence 273 2,466 2,739 
			 (1) The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (3 )Final plea recorded on completion of trial.  Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services in the Ministry of Justice

Sentencing

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the potential effect on prisoner numbers of giving offenders a 50 per cent credit for pleading guilty at a police station rather than one-third for pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity.

Crispin Blunt: It was estimated in the "Breaking the cycle: effective punishment, rehabilitation and sentencing of offenders" Green Paper that the effect of increasing the maximum discount available for an early guilty plea will be a reduction of 3,400 prison places in 2014-15 relative to the expected growth of the prison population. No separate estimate has been made of the effect of restricting the maximum discount to admissions at the police station, though it would undoubtedly be less. The Green Paper consultation period has recently closed and we will continue to assess the likely impact of the full range of sentencing policy proposals on the prison population.

Sentencing

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what guidance he issues to judges and magistrates on suitable disposals on conviction when a community order sentence is appropriate but not possible as the defendant  (a) has no address or  (b) is due to leave the country immediately.

Crispin Blunt: All sentences imposed by judges and magistrates must be proportionate to the seriousness of the offending and take account of all the circumstances of the offender and the offence. Guidance on sentencing generally is issued by the independent Sentencing Council for England and Wales to promote greater consistency in sentencing.
	In an individual case a court may obtain and consider a pre-sentence report providing information about the offender's circumstances and making a sentencing proposal. This report should include information about the offender's address and any known plans to go abroad. Having no address or spending a short period abroad do not necessarily prevent the court from imposing a community order, where that is the appropriate sentence. For example, an offender can comply with a supervision requirement of a community order if he has no fixed abode. Where an offender intends to go abroad for a short period, the court could delay the start of a community order to accommodate the visit, depending on its purpose.
	Where an offender intends to move permanently to Scotland or Northern Ireland, community orders can be transferred under existing legislation.

Sentencing

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will assess the merits of offering  (a) a reduction by one-third in a sentence to an offender who pleads guilty to an offence at a police station and  (b) no reduction in sentence to an offender who does not plead guilty until the case reaches court.

Crispin Blunt: Restricting the guilty plea discount to suspects who co-operate in interview with the police and then plead guilty in court would risk reducing the incidence of guilty pleas at the first court hearing, as there would be no incentive for a defendant who had failed to make admissions in interview to plead guilty thereafter. This would not be in the interests of the efficiency of the criminal justice system or of victims and witnesses. However, we are considering how to incentivise an early guilty plea over a guilty plea later in the justice process.

Sentencing: Appeals

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what powers the Crown court has when considering an appeal from a magistrates' court to vary a sentence by committing it to the Crown court for a more substantial sentence than was originally handed down by the magistrates court.

Crispin Blunt: On an appeal against sentence imposed in a magistrates court, or following an unsuccessful appeal from a conviction in a magistrates court, the Crown court has power to substitute any sentence the original court could have passed, up to the maximum sentence available to that court, even if that would involve the imposition of a more substantial sentence than the one the magistrates court imposed.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Burma: Asylum

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what humanitarian assistance his Department is providing to  (a) Rohingya people in Burma,  (b) Rohingya refugees recently arrived in (i) India and (ii) Indonesia and (c) Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

Stephen O'Brien: Rohingya people in Burma benefit from Department for International Development (DFID) contributions to multi-donor programmes which operate across Burma in the areas of health, education and rural livelihoods. They also receive aid from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the European Union, to which DFID makes core contributions.
	DFID has not provided humanitarian assistance to Rohingya refugees recently arrived in India or Indonesia.
	DFID supports Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh through its core contributions to UNHCR, UNICEF, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organisation, the UN Population Fund and the European Union.

Business: Ethics

Harriet Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what support his Department is providing to co-ordinate and support corporate social responsibility programmes of UK businesses operating in the developing world.

Andrew Mitchell: We have created a new private sector department that will drive increased private sector investment in developing countries, while promoting responsible business practices. The Department for International Development (DFID) supports a corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda which encourages businesses in the UK and internationally to work in a way that aligns positive impacts on poverty with commercial interests.
	DFID supports a number of initiatives that promote socially responsible business practices. The Business Call to Action challenges businesses to develop initiatives that are both commercially viable and help to achieve the millennium development goals (MDGs); and the Responsible and Accountable Garment Sector Challenge Fund and the Food Retail Challenge Fund demonstrate how businesses can generate additional benefits for poor people in developing countries. DFID is also supporting responsible business standards through our programme partnership arrangements with the Fairtrade Foundation and the Ethical Trading Initiative.

Departmental Food

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will estimate the proportion of the seafood procured for  (a) his Department and  (b) the non-departmental public bodies for which he is responsible that (i) was on the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to avoid and (ii) complied with sustainability standards indicated by inclusion in either the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to eat or by the list of fish species certified by the Marine Stewardship Council in (A) 2010 and (B) 2011 to date.

Stephen O'Brien: Information is only available from 1 January 2011, when our new contracted caterers, Mitie facilities management, took over responsibility for our two staff restaurants in the Department's UK offices. Since this time, no seafood was procured which was on the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to avoid. 81% of the seafood served complied with the relevant sustainability standards.

Export Credits Guarantee Department

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills on the White Paper on Trade and Investment for Growth for the purposes of ensuring that the Export Credits Guarantee Department supports international development aims.

Stephen O'Brien: Drafting of the White Paper on Trade and Investment for Growth was led by the Department for International Development (DFID) and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Joint Trade Policy Unit. The Secretary of State for International Development and the Business Secretary, as well as other DFID and BIS Ministers, had many discussions on the range of issues contained within the White Paper.
	The Exports Credit Guarantee Department (ECGD) pilot schemes announced in the White Paper largely focus on supporting small and medium enterprises in the UK. DFID will continue to fully engage with ECGD by providing case-by-case assessments of these and ongoing ECGD transactions where they relate to the poorest countries. This practice is in line with Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) guidelines and ensures that ECGD-backed lending supports the financial future and long-term prospects of developing countries.

Nigeria: Corruption

Pauline Latham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much funding his Department has provided to Nigeria for the purposes of tackling corruption.

Stephen O'Brien: Through the Security, Justice and Growth programme, the Department for International Development's support to anti-corruption agencies in Nigeria totalled £500,000 between 2006 and 2010. This support was complemented by support to public financial management as well as strong anti-corruption measures within all our other programmes.
	The new Justice for All programme started in November 2010. It will increase support to a range of anti-corruption agencies and civil society in Nigeria. The main aim is to build on the successes achieved on anti-money laundering as well as improving the success rate of the judiciary in dealing with corruption cases.

Nigeria: Corruption

Pauline Latham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much funding his Department has allocated to the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crime Commission in each year since 2005.

Stephen O'Brien: The Department for International Development (DFID) has provided £250,000 to support the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) between 2006 and 2010. A breakdown of support in each calendar is as follows.
	
		
			  Calendar year  Amount (£) 
			 2006 40,000 
			 2007 100,000 
			 2008 60,000 
			 2009 45,000 
			 2010 5,000 
		
	
	This support was part of the Security, Justice and Growth programme, managed by the British Council. No funds were given directly to EFCC. The support focused on two areas: setting up and running a training course for corruption investigators and strengthening the work of the Financial Intelligence Unit.

CABINET OFFICE

Brighton

Simon Kirby: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will bring forward proposals to relocate  (a) staff and  (b) offices of his Department to Brighton; and if he will make a statement.

Francis Maude: The current plans for the Estate Rationalisation of the Cabinet Office estate do not include the relocation of staff or offices in Brighton.

Census

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what steps he has taken to facilitate meetings between the Office for National Statistics and hon. Members to discuss potential issues which may arise during the conduct of the 2011 Census.

Francis Maude: The Office for National Statistics is responsible for carrying out the 2011 census in England and Wales on 27 March 2011. The National Statistician has already written to all MPs on the census providing them with key information and seeking their full support to ensure a strong response from the public.

Census

Greg Knight: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will bring forward proposals to cancel or postpone the 2011 census.

Francis Maude: This Government have concluded that it is essential that the 2011 census goes ahead on 27 March 2011 to meet UK and international data requirements.

Departmental Billing

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what proportion of invoices from suppliers his Department paid within 10 days of receipt in January and February 2011.

Francis Maude: The number of compliant invoice payments made to suppliers by the Department for January and February 2011 are as follows:
	
		
			   Proportion of invoices paid in percentage terms 
			  Paid within 10 days  
			 January 2011 88 
			 February 2011 92

Departmental Food

William Bain: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  when he expects his Department to meet the Government's commitment to source food that meets British or equivalent standards of production;
	(2)  when he expects the Prime Minister's Office to meet the Government's commitment to source food that meets British or equivalent standards of production.

Francis Maude: The Prime Minister's Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office.
	The vast majority of food procured for catering and hospitality purposes across the Cabinet Office's central London estate is provided by our facilities management providers (FMPs). All meat purchased by our FMPs meat suppliers are in line with RSPCA Freedom Food standards, Assured Food Standards and Quality Pork Standard.
	The Cabinet Office actively encourages its FMPs to implement the public sector food procurement initiative wherever practical and viable and they are also obliged to take account of and support the Government's sustainable food policies and where possible, to source food that meets British or equivalent standards of production.

Departmental Leaseback Arrangements

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what assets his Department has sold and leased back over the last 12 months; what the sale price was of each asset so sold; and what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of leasing back each such asset over the period of the lease.

Francis Maude: The Cabinet Office has not sold and leased back any assets over the last 12 months.

Departmental Manpower

Natascha Engel: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many staff of his Office will be working on  (a) the introduction of a public reading stage for bills and  (b) the introduction of a public reading day within a bill's committee stage.

Francis Maude: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 7 March 2011,  Official Report, column 740W, by the Leader of the House of Commons.

Departmental Manpower

John Redwood: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many  (a) actual and  (b) full-time equivalent staff have left his Department's employ since May 2010.

Francis Maude: The number of actual and full-time equivalent staff who have left the Cabinet Office between 1 May 2010 and 31 January 2011 is as follows:
	Headcount: 264
	Full-time equivalent: 255.47
	Of the 264 who left the Department 69 (26%) were staff returning to their parent organisation at the end of a period of loan or secondment. 22 (8%) were staff moving to another Department as a result of machinery of government changes and 26 (10%) are staff who have transferred to another Department under a loan agreement.

Departmental Manpower

John Redwood: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many  (a) actual and  (b) full-time equivalent staff his Department employed at the latest date for which figures are available.

Francis Maude: The number of actual and full-time equivalent civil servants employed by the Cabinet Office at the latest date available, 30 September 2010, is published by the Office for National Statistics at the following address:
	http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_labour/Table6AllDepts.xls
	Headcount and full-time equivalent numbers at that date were:
	Headcount: 1,670
	Full-time equivalent: 1,620.

Departmental Manpower

John Redwood: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many  (a) actual and  (b) full-time equivalent staff were employed by his Department in May 2010.

Francis Maude: The number of actual and full-time equivalent civil servants employed by the Cabinet Office at 31 May 2010 is as follows:
	Headcount: 1,344
	Full-time equivalent: 1,304.95.

Departmental Pay

Caroline Flint: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  if he will take steps to ensure that his published departmental organisational chart includes the names and responsibilities of all staff paid over £58,200 per annum in his Department and in the non-departmental public bodies and agencies for which he is responsible;
	(2)  if he will take steps to ensure that the published organisational chart for the Prime Minister's Office includes the names and responsibilities of all staff paid over £58,200 per annum.

Francis Maude: The Prime Minister's Office forms part of the Cabinet Office.
	The Government have for the first time published organisation charts which disclose salary of all directors and above including for the Prime Minister's Office. The level of salary disclosure in the organisational structure charts already helps enable the public to hold Departments to account for their use of public funds.
	There are no current plans to extend the scope of salary disclosure when structure charts are updated.

Departmental Procurement

Dominic Raab: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the cost to the public purse was of the  (a) procurement and  (b) outsourcing function of (i) his Department and (ii) each (A) agency, (B) non-departmental public body and (C) non-ministerial department for which he is responsible in the last financial year for which figures are available.

Francis Maude: The costs are as follows. In all cases the outsourcing function is covered by the procurement function; not as a discrete function.
	
		
			  Year ended 31 March 2010 
			   Organisation  £000 
			 (i) Cabinet Office 951 
			
			 (ii) A Buying Solutions 66 
			
			 (ii) B Capacity Builders (UK) Limited 67 
			  Commission for the Compact Limited 0 
			
			 (ii) C Central Office of Information 336 
			  Charity Commission 140 
			  National School of Government 47

EU Budget

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what payments account for the difference between the UK's net contribution to the EU budget in 2009 and the UK's current account balance with EU institutions in 2009.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	 Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated March 2011:
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question to asking what payments account for the difference between the UK's net contribution to the EU budget in 2009 and the UK's Current Account balance with EU institutions. (43943)
	Annual data for 2009 on the UK's transactions with the EU, including the UK's current account balance with EU institutions, are published in the UK Balance of Payments (Pink Book) 2010:
	http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/product.asp?vlnk=1140
	The data published in the Pink Book are consistent with the concepts and definitions in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Balance of Payment's Manual version 5 (BPM5) which is the internationally agreed framework for the compilation and presentation of Balance of Payments statistics. The UK's current account transactions with EU institutions in 2009 are published in Pink Book 2010, table 5.1, pp 78-80, and are largely based on HM Treasury data on UK transactions with the EU, as published in the White Paper (table 3.1, p21).
	Some of the HM Treasury data are incorporated directly into the Pink Book, for example, figures for abatement receipts and VAT based contributions. However, some of the HM Treasury data need to be modified prior to incorporation, for reasons such as to bring the figures onto an accruals basis and to present them on a calendar year, rather than a financial year basis. Additionally, some of the HM Treasury data feed into the UK's capital account, rather than the current account, for example, receipts from the Agricultural Fund for Regional Development and European Regional Development Fund. These are shown in the Pink Book 2010, table 6.1, p. 85. Total official transactions between the UK and institutions of the EU (including current and capital account transactions) are published in the Pink Book 2010, table 9.9, p.161.

Government Departments: Construction

Naomi Long: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office pursuant to the answer to the right hon. Member for Stirling of 26 July 2010,  Official Report, column 738W, on Government departments: construction, what progress the Office of Government Commerce has made in its review of common minimum standards for construction.

Francis Maude: The update of the content of the common minimum standards is now under way. It is planned to be complete this summer. This will enable the new CMS to reflect fully the Government's wider strategies for procurement, construction, the environment and health and safety. Once ready, the revised CMS will replace the existing version on the Department's website.

Government Departments: Travel

Simon Kirby: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what progress has been made on his Department's plans to implement new standard guidance on government travel policies; and when he expects to issue this new guidance.

Francis Maude: Since May 2010, this Government have saved £50 million by avoiding travel and a further £50 million through reducing the cost of travel (use of advance tickets, reduction in first class travel).
	To ensure that the reduction on travel spend is sustainable, the Efficiency and Reform Group within the Cabinet Office, is in the process of finalising guidance on travel policy principles for Government Departments to adopt. The guidance has been prepared in consultation with Departments and key suppliers to Government. The plan is to publish the guidance in the first quarter of the new financial year to support the new travel spending controls.
	Furthermore, work is under way to develop a centralised supply strategy to enable central Government to purchase travel services, including rail travel and hotel accommodation, at the best prices. The strategy will support the travel policy to ensure that Government Departments keep travel expenditure to a minimum. The use of online booking systems is a key element of this strategy as they provide the best access to advance, and therefore cheaper, fares and rates.

Government Departments: Travel

Paul Maynard: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what estimate he has made of the extent of work-related travel undertaken by civil servants between  (a) Manchester and Leeds,  (b) Liverpool and Leeds and  (c) Liverpool and Manchester in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Francis Maude: The Cabinet Office does not have offices in Leeds, Liverpool or Manchester, and the level of work-related travel between these cities is negligible.
	Buying Solutions, an executive agency of the Efficiency and Reform Group in the Cabinet Office, has an office in Liverpool. The level of work-related travel to Manchester or Leeds is negligible.

Government Efficiency Review

Simon Kirby: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what progress has been made in implementing the recommendations of the efficiency review led by Sir Philip Green.

Francis Maude: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by Lord Taylor of Holbeach on 27 January 2011,  Official Report,  House of  Lords, column WA196. Sir Philip's recommendations have been incorporated into ongoing programmes within the Efficiency and Reform Group.

Government Efficiency Review

Simon Kirby: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether he plans to implement the recommendation of the efficiency review by Sir Philip Green on the use of communications-based alternatives to travel such as video conferencing by civil servants.

Francis Maude: The controls this Government have put in place in to manage down demand in travel has already saved £50 million by avoiding travel and a further £50 million through reducing the cost of travel (use of advance tickets, reduction in first class travel). Through new travel policies, currently being developed, Departments will be required to address the need for travel by considering firstly teleconferencing or then videoconferencing, prior to undertaking any journey.

Meetings: Public Expenditure

Bob Stewart: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the cost to the public purse has been of holding meetings of the Cabinet outside of London in respect of each such meeting held since May 2010.

Francis Maude: Two Cabinet Office meetings outside London have been held since May 2010:
	1. In Bradford on 29 June 2010 at a total cost of £3,029 (excluding VAT)
	2. In Derby on 7 March 2011,The full costs of this event are not yet known but are expected to be similar or lower to those of the Bradford event.

Social Conditions

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many times richer the richest 20% are than the poorest 20% in each year of the last 10 years.

Chris Grayling: I have been asked to reply.
	Estimates of the ratio of the share of income of the top and bottom 20% of the income distribution are available from the Households Below Average Income report published annually.
	
		
			  Table 1: Ratio of top quintile (richest 20%) income share to bottom quintile (poorest 20%) share, 1998-99 to 2008-09 
			   Before housing costs  After housing costs 
			 1998-99(1) 5.7 7.6 
			 1999-2000(1) 5.7 7.6 
			 2000-01(1) 5.9 7.9 
			 2001-02(1) 5.7 7.5 
			 2002-03(2) 5.6 7.3 
			 2003-04(2) 5.6 7.4 
			 2004-05(2) 5.5 7.3 
			 2005-06(2) 5.7 7.8 
			 2006-07(2) 5.9 8.1 
			 2007-08(2) 6.1 8.7 
			 2008-09(2) 6.0 9.0 
			 (1 )GB.  (2 )UK.   Notes: 1. These statistics are based on households below average income (HBAI) data sourced from the Family Resources Survey (FRS). This uses disposable household income, adjusted using modified OECD equivalisation factors for household size and composition, as an income measure as a proxy for standard of living.  2. All estimates are based on survey data and are therefore subject to uncertainty. Small differences should be treated with caution as these will be affected by sampling error and variability in non-response.  3. The reference period for households below average income figures are single financial years.  4. Disposable incomes have been used to answer the question. This includes earnings from employment and self-employment, state support, income from occupational and private pensions, investment income and other sources. Income tax, payments, national insurance contributions, council tax / domestic rates and some other payments are deducted from incomes.  5. Figures are for the United Kingdom from 2002-03 onwards. Earlier years are for Great Britain only.  6. Figures have been presented on a before housing cost and an after housing cost basis. For before housing costs, housing costs (such as rent, water rates, mortgage interest payments, buildings insurance payments and ground rent and service charges) are not deducted from income, while for after housing costs they are.  7. These statistics are publicly available in the Households Below Average Income Report, Table 2.2ts page 25-26, on the DWP website: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/hbai/hbai_2009/index.php?page=contents

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Biofuels: Finance

Stephen McPartland: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much funding from the public purse has been provided to biomass projects since the introduction of the renewables obligation.

Gregory Barker: DECC holds funding information only for those schemes that transferred to the department on its formation in 2008 or were later set up by DECC. The following table gives the expenditure under the renewables obligation for dedicated electricity generation and the electricity output of combined heat and power (CHP) plants. For the grant schemes, funding was given to CHP plants as a whole, rather than to the separate electricity and heat outputs.
	
		
			  Funding paid to biomass electricity and combined heat and power projects 
			  £ million 
			  Type of funding  Feedstock/Technology  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09  2009-10 
			 Renewables Obligation Biomass 18.2 24.7 26.1 29.0 34.7 42.8 57.8 105.1 
			  Co-firing biomass/ energy crops 12.9 24.3 66.4 111.3 64.1 60.7 80.1 30.1 
			  Landfill gas 81.5 96.2 114.8 130.2 141.6 155.8 167.6 179.8 
			  Sewage gas 5.3 5.9 7.8 10.4 11.2 12.0. 14.7 17.0 
			  Other(1) 0.005 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.5 0.6 0.7 7.7 
			   
			 Bio-energy Capital Grants Scheme Biomass electricity 0 0 0 0 0.02 3.9 1.2 0 
			  Biomass CHP 0 0 1.5 0.2 0 0.2 1.6 0 
			   
			 Support for anaerobic digestion demonstration plants Waste anaerobic digestion (CHP) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.0 
			 (1 )"Other" covers a range of technologies such as anaerobic digestion, gasification and pyrolysis, using biomass and waste.

Biofuels: Wood

Stephen McPartland: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent estimate he has made of the contribution to the Government's renewables target of burning wood for biomass.

Gregory Barker: Our analysis suggests that biomass heat and electricity could provide about 4.5% of overall energy demand by 2020. This would not all be met by burning wood-other biomass feedstocks include a broad range of wastes (eg food and municipal waste, landfill and sewage gas), residues such as straw, perennial energy crops such as miscanthus, and second generation technologies that do not require combustion. We do not have specific expectations for each particular biomass feedstock type but expect that burning wood from imported and domestic sources, preferably waste wood, will make a significant contribution to biomass heat and electricity generation in the UK by 2020.
	We are introducing sustainability criteria for the use of imported and domestic biomass to generate electricity under the renewables obligation from April this year. These criteria require a minimum greenhouse gas emissions saving of 60% compared to fossil fuel and include restrictions on the use of materials from land important on carbon or biodiversity grounds. We intend to do the same next year for heat generation under the renewable heat incentive.

Departmental Food

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will estimate the proportion of the seafood procured for  (a) his Department and  (b) the non-departmental public bodies for which he is responsible that (i) was on the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to avoid and (ii) complied with sustainability standards indicated by inclusion in either the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to eat or by the list of fish species certified by the Marine Stewardship Council in (A) 2010 and (B) 2011 to date.

Gregory Barker: DECC's main Department receives its catering services through the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). No such estimate of the proportion of seafood procured has been made. However, DEFRA's new catering contract, which DECC currently intends to utilise, will commence in April and stipulates that the contractor shall ensure that the fish is supplied from sustainable sources and in compliance with the Government Buying Standard for food and catering when established and as amended from time to time.
	DECC does not hold information centrally on its non-departmental public bodies procurement of fish. However, the NDPBs who can readily provide this information, and have catering contracts, have not procured any fish on the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to avoid, and have complied with sustainability standards indicated by inclusion in either the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to eat or by the list of fish species certified by the Marine Stewardship Council.

Departmental Ministerial Policy Advisers

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many  (a) special advisers and  (b) policy advisers work for (i) him and (ii) Ministers in his Department; and what the salary of each is.

Gregory Barker: The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change has two special advisers working for him. They are paid in accordance with the special advisers pay bands which can be viewed at:
	http://data.gov.uk/dataset/special-adviser-paybands
	and where the salary is more than £58,200 the salary details can be viewed at:
	http://data.gov.uk/dataset/special-advisers
	There are no policy advisers working in ministerial offices.

Departmental Postal Services

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much his Department has spent on motorcycle or bicycle couriers since his appointment.

Gregory Barker: Since the beginning of May 2010 until February of 2011 the Department of Energy and Climate Change spent £4,166.73 on courier services. It is not possible to identify motorcycle or bicycle courier services from those delivered by other modes of transport without incurring the disproportionate cost of locating and scrutinising individual invoices.

Departmental Press

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what meetings each of his special advisers has had with each member of the Parliamentary Lobby since their appointment.

Gregory Barker: Special advisers' contact with the media is carried out in accordance with the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers.

Departmental Travel

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much his Department has spent on  (a) car,  (b) taxi,  (c) rail,  (d) aeroplane,  (e) helicopter,  (f) ferry and  (g) minibus or coach travel since his appointment.

Gregory Barker: Since the beginning of May 2010 until February 2011 the Department of Energy and Climate Change has incurred the following travel costs:
	  (a) car hire (including any mileage): £155,889;
	  (b) taxi hire: £50,205;
	  (c) rail: £322,399;
	  (d) air: £619,672.
	We have no record of any helicopter or ferry travel. Some minibus or coach travel may be included in the total for taxi travel but is not recorded separately. To provide this information would incur disproportionate costs.

Energy: Housing

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what timetable he has set for the improvement of the energy efficiency of privately-owned housing in bands F and G; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: The Green Deal has the potential to improve the energy efficiency of properties across all housing tenures. In particular, we envisage the Green Deal will benefit lower band housing, as these properties have the biggest gains to make through installation of basic energy efficiency measures.
	There are no current plans to specifically target owner-occupied properties in bands F and G. However, if we do not see progress in the private rented sector under the Green Deal, we intend to use powers in the Energy Bill to require improvements in the worst performing rental properties.

Energy: Listed Buildings

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether he has plans to improve the energy efficiency of listed buildings.

Gregory Barker: Improving the energy efficiency of listed buildings will be more challenging within the constraints imposed by listing. However, the Green Deal will support a whole suite of measures including many that improve energy efficiency without affecting the appearance or fabric of a property.
	Green Deal assessments are likely to include behavioural changes that can help reduce energy usage in all buildings, and these can make a significant impact before the need to make any fabric alterations.

Solar Photovoltaic Sector: Brighton

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the number of jobs created in the solar photovoltaic sector in  (a) Brighton and Hove and  (b) the UK since the date of implementation of the feed-in tariff scheme.

Gregory Barker: The Department does not hold estimates on the number of jobs created in the solar photovoltaic (PV) market in Great Britain or the area mentioned. However, the Renewable Energy Association (REA) have provided the following job specific numbers in the solar industry:
	(i) Increase from 3,000 in January 2010 to over 10,000 in January 2011;
	(ii) Predicted to increase to 17,000 by spring 2011;
	(iii) By January 2012, an expected 30,000 will be employed in the solar industry.

Third Sector

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether  (a) he and  (b) Ministers in his Department are participating in volunteering activities as part of his Department's involvement in the big society initiative.

Gregory Barker: My right hon. and hon. Friends and I are actively involved with numerous charities on a private basis including those detailed in the list of Ministers' interests, recently published by the Cabinet Office.
	I would also refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 9 March 2011,  Official Report, column 1076W.

Video-conferencing

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what proportion of his Department's  (a) external and  (b) internal meetings were conducted using teleconferencing technology in the latest period in which figures are available.

Gregory Barker: The Department does not hold centrally information on how many meetings, internal or external, that take place, therefore any proportion using teleconferencing technology cannot be calculated. The Department does have video and audio conferencing facilities and makes regular use of them.

Water Supply: Carbon Emissions

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent estimate he has made of the  (a) proportion and  (b) total amount of carbon dioxide emissions in the UK generated through the treatment and pumping of drinking water and waste water; and if he will bring forward proposals to amend the Energy Bill to include measures aimed at increasing water efficiency.

Gregory Barker: Emissions from the energy use for treatment and pumping of drinking and wastewater are not explicitly estimated within the UK greenhouse gas inventory, but these emissions are included in the overall totals. This is compliant with international reporting guidelines.
	Using energy consumption data it has been possible to estimate carbon dioxide emissions from industrial energy consumption from the collection, purification and distribution of water for 2008 and these are estimated to be 3.34 Mt. This is equivalent to 0.6% of total 2008 UK carbon dioxide emissions (excluding land use, land use change and forestry). The derivation of this estimate is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Carbon dioxide emissions based on industrial energy consumption from collection, purification and distribution of water for 2008 
			  Fuel type  Quantity (thousand tonnes of oil equivalent)  Quantity kWh-gross calorific value  CO 2  emission factor (kg /kWh)  CO 2  emitted (Mt) 
			 Fuel oil 6 69,739,297 0.26475 0.02 
			 Gas oil 116 1,350,875,235 0.25214 0.34 
			 Natural gas 27 317,712,134 0.18485 0.06 
			 Electricity 465 5,404,468,387 0.54600 2.93 
			 Total 614 - - 3.34 
			  Note: The emission factor for electricity consumed is used.  Source: Energy Consumption in the UK Industrial tables 2010 update table 4.6a: http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/statistics/publications/ecuk/ecuk.aspx 2010 Guidelines to DEFRA/DECC's GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting: http://ww2.defra.gov.uk/environment/economy/business-efficiency/reporting/ 
		
	
	Estimates have been provided for 2008 as emission factors for 2009 are not yet available.
	Plans in the Energy Bill for a 'Green Deal' represent an opportunity to bring together energy and water saving in the home, as well as community spaces and businesses, with no up-front cost to consumers as they pay the costs back through their energy bill. DEFRA are working with DECC on plans which include hot water efficiency measures in the 'Green Deal', where the energy saved from heating water is reflected in savings on the energy bill.
	While water efficiency measures do not appear on the face of the Bill itself, the policy document accompanying the Green Deal does refer to water efficiency:
	http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/legislation/energybill/1010-green-deal-summary-proposals.pdf

Wind Power: Manufacturing Industries

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what arrangements will be made for delivery of his Department's programme to support the establishment of offshore wind manufacturing at port sites after the end of the Grant for Business Investment scheme.

Charles Hendry: Support for the establishment of offshore wind manufacturing at port sites will be available from April 2011 to March 2015, and will be delivered through the Grant for Business Investment (GBI) scheme, a state-aid cleared scheme which will continue to be utilised to assess applications for this funding in England for the full period that the support is available. On 1 February 2011 the Government announced that the GBI scheme is closed for new applications, except for large exceptional projects and applications to DECC for support for major offshore wind manufacturing investments, which will therefore continue to be administered through this scheme.